This is the Erotic Print Society ‘Scarlet Library’ edition of John Cleland’s celebrated classic ‘autobiography’ of a young woman trained into sexual service. It came late in the series and towards the demise of the society, which probably explains why Volume I’s illustrations are in colour and Volume II’s in monochrome.

Erich von Götha’s illustrations for the two volumes are quite distinct, those for the first volume being much more interesting in that they tell parallel stories of Fanny Hill herself and of a modern-day woman reading the book and fantasising about the story. As her reading progresses, the lower part of the image depicting her imagination gradually adds colour; the only mystery is that while she picks Fanny Hill from the library shelf in the first image, by the time she finishes reading it has turned into The Story of O!