No erotic illustrator worth their salt would turn down an opportunity to illustrate John Cleland’s 1748 classic Fanny Hill, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, and Bécat was given that opportunity in the early 1940s, by a publisher whose identity remains unknown other than the title page says ‘Bruxelles’ – which is probably a ruse to circumvent possible censorship as most such titles of the period were produced in Paris.

It was produced in two volumes in an edition of 550 copies, using the translation by Isidore Liseux, and contained ten of Bécat’s trademark drypoint etchings. As it was printed on a rougher paper than most of the Bécat limited editions the colour quality is not particularly good, but the illustrations are notable for their frank portrayal of the more adventurous parts of Cleland’s text.