Rebecca found this old book for me today at Pulp Fiction books (only $8!!) and it's my new fucking bible, man. This won't be leaving my art desk for months.
First thing I see when I open it is this amazing drawing:
Right away, I was inspired. I had to sit down immediately and draw.
Yeah, I know they're Geese. I just like the way "dick ducks" sounds.
Anyway, it's a collection of this fucking brilliant turn of the century Belgian artist named Martin Van Maele. He illustrated piles of porn for a couple French publishers who specialized in "bizarre illustrations", and "erotic-flagellation novels". Most of this stuff appeared from 1901 to 1907, and remain some of the rarest books of their kind in the world. Martin Van Maele was married, had no children, and died in 1926.
The following illustrations originally saw print in a volume called "La Grande Danse Macabre Des Vifs", which saw a print run of only 100 copies. This book I have here from 1970 was the first time they were reprinted, but they've also seen print a couple of times since, most easily obtainable in the first Erotica Universalis volume from Tashen -- which is also awesome.
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