Conversations with Hans-Jürgen, Part 1

23rd October 2020

The name of Hans-Jürgen Döpp will be familiar to anyone interested in the history and dissemination of erotic art, and we are delighted that he has agreed to answer many of the questions we so often ask of ourselves!

His many books include 1000 Erotic Works of Genius, Objects of Desire, The Kiss,… read more

Conversations with Paula, Part 3

16th June 2020

This is the last of three conversations with the most-visited illustrator on the honesterotica website, Lynn Paula Russell, a reflection of the enduring relevance of her work. It’s all too easy to forget that the artists featured on the website are (or mostly were!) real people, with lives, loves,… read more

Conversations with Paula, Part 2

2nd June 2020

This is the second of three conversations with the most-visited illustrator on the honesterotica website, a reflection of the enduring relevance of her work. It’s all too easy to forget that the artists featured on the website are (or mostly were!) real people, with lives, loves, imaginations,… read more

French erotic publishing between the wars

18th May 2020

In 2005 the Paris bookseller and expert on French erotic publishing, Jean-Pierre Dutel, produced the third volume of his encyclopedaic survey Bibliographie des ouvrages érotiques publiés clandestinement en français, covering the period from 1920 to 1970. The introduction provides a general survey,… read more

Conversations with Paula, Part 1

17th May 2020

As many of you will already be aware, by far the most-visited artist on the honesterotica website is Lynn Paula Russell. It’s all too easy to forget that the artists featured on the website are (or mostly were!) real people, with lives, loves, imaginations, hopes and fears, challenges and… read more

Your all-time favourites

1st February 2020

So, honesterotica is very nearly two years old, and already we’ve welcomed nearly 80,000 unique visitors, who collectively have viewed over 4 million images. Not bad eh?

We thought you might like to know what you and your fellow visitors have found most attractive during the time we’ve been going… read more

Thank you Indienudes!

26th September 2017

We couldn’t quite understand why 1,536 new visitors came to look at honesterotica yesterday, when our average daily visitors are usually under a hundred. Then we discovered that indienudes.com, started sixteen years ago as a hub for discriminating erotica-lovers, had found us. What a difference… read more

honesterotica hits the road running ...

30th April 2017

It’s all rather exciting!

The big news is that Priscilla Frank, the arts correspondent for Huffington Post, did a lovely piece on Clara Tice and honesterotica on Monday 24 April – you can read it here – and the visitor count to the website went through the roof. As of midnight last night nearly 4,… read more

Prélude Charnel – An erotic story with many angles

23rd March 2017

Sometimes researches into honest erotica throw up some fascinating chains of events, and the book first published 1934 in French as Prélude Charnel is one of the most fascinating.


The first edition of Prélude Charnel


A well-written and very credible narrative of a young couple’s (well, at… read more

The erotic works of Pierre Louÿs

23rd March 2017

(at the moment this is an abridged version of the Wikipedia entry for Pierre Louÿs; a revised text and illustrations will follow shortly)

Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who… read more