Following the success of The Secret Art of Tom Poulton a year earlier, Jamie Maclean of the Erotic Print Society quickly followed it up with a volume to include what at that time he believed to be the balance of Tom Poulton’s complete work. The second volume, An Artist’s Secret Sketchbook, contains more than 160 previously-unpublished drawings. As Maclean says on the back cover of the book, ‘Here we are given a glimpse of some of the artist’s most uninhibited and spontaneous work. His sketches are not always even in their detail, but always lively in observation and innovative in content.’

Many of the drawings are roughs and preliminary versions, but they provide an insight into the way Poulton worked, often filling a sheet with multiple sketches and quickly-sketched detail. There are also many finished drawings, demonstrating his considerable artistic skill.

In the printed book the drawings are set on a pale cream background, which tends to draw attention away from the detail; here we have taken them back to monochrome, both to allow the drawings to speak for themselves and for consistency with the two other Poulton portfolios.