The full title of this well-researched and careful selection of more than two hundred pieces of erotic literature by nearly a hundred authors is L’enfer des classiques, poèmes légers des grands écrivains du 15e au 18e siècle (The Netherworld of the Classics: Lighthearted Poems by Great Writers from the 15th to the 18th Century). The introduction by Pierre Dufay (1864–1942), best known for his 1906 history of women’s underwear Le pantalon féminin (Women’s Knickers), and is a very competent overview of ‘gallant’ texts from early anonymous ballads to the much-quoted eighteenth century authors Jean de la Fontaine, Alexis Piron, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph de Grécourt and Voltaire.

Collot’s ten plates commissioned to accompany the text are coloured woodcuts, demonstrating his mastery of simple yet refined composition and colouring.

L’enfer des classiques was published by Éditions de la Nouvelle France in a limited numbered edition of 2,900 copies.