This is a pairing of two C17, C18 erotic classics, with a brief historical introduction to such early erotic works by Paul Anhalt. The ‘Count Alexis’ segment was published (as ‘The Memoirs of Count Alexis’) by Grove Press in 1972, and, being later in its writing, has a style more developed in what we today know as ‘erotic’ than does the earlier work, ‘Caresses’. Whereas the latter is almost a manual of sexual self-discovery, teaching the reader of the wonders of sexual arousal and fulfilment, the former is more designed to excite in itself, being essentially an account of the sexual adventures of Alexis. The former contains most of the scenarios that later became commonplace: sex in convents, and sexual flagellation as an aid to arousal. The sexual frisson associated with religious subjects appears also in ‘Caresses’, in the later part of the work which describes the heroine’s sexual progress following her preparatory education. ( )