Emily Ford's Pillow Book

A Seven-Year Itch Most Delightfully Scratched

It's now seven years since Emily Ford took on the role of Erotic Review Books' Secretary, and to celebrate we asked her to put together her own erotic compendium of favourite bits and pieces - a sort of sexual scrapbook, if you like. Artists, photographers, writers of fiction and journalists are also contributors, of course, but we are terrifically pleased - and pleasantly surprised - with the selection she has made. She writes...

How Much Sex Can You Possibly Have?

It's always a bit embarrassing having to blow one's own trumpet but then there are quite a few other trumpets being blown in my Pillow Book (not by their owners, it's true) and a lot more besides. I'd hate you to miss out on any of the 240 action-packed pages. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, sex is the theme of the book.

There's Seductive Sex, Shocking Sex, Auto-Sex, Painful Sex, Wet Sex, Puzzling Sex, Bi-Sex, Victorian Sex, Fabulous Sex, Kissing Sex, Extra-marital Sex, Oral Sex... well, the list is longer but I sense your attention wandering.

Marquis de Sade - Dangerous To Know?

Like every good omnibus, there's something for everyone, and I hope this unusual book's varied content reflects my own rather earthy, quirky and eclectic tastes - I've included a mix of short stories and articles that I hope will arouse and delight you. There are two pieces on de Sade (one's illustrated by Lynn Paula Russell) for instance. I've always found him a little mad, not quite as bad as some say and not at all dangerous to know.

No Holes Barred

Pictures abound too: there's a pictorial essay of enormous male members and while my Pillow Book may not be able to hide its light under a biblical bushel, its gleam might be totally eclipsed by a female pubic bush - we have an entire gallery of some of the bushiest ever seen! And not only is the Pillow Book about organs of generation - it's also about the deliciously wicked things people do with them: anal sex for one. Victoria Grahame bends over forwards and touches her toes to share some of her most intimate anal experiences with us while Trevor Watson's new photographs, published here for the first time, are just some among an orgy of fellating females. Style-guru Stephen Bayley informs us about how to seduce and how to do that other thing with your mouth - kiss.

Sylvie Jones, Victorian Porn - and Crosswords, too

Unfortunately I can't give you the whole menu because you'd get indigestion just reading it. This book is a meal to be nibbled at, not eaten at one sitting. And I've left the main course until last. Sub Umbra or Sport Amongst the She-noodles is one of the most perfect pieces of Victorian pornography I've encountered; a complete novella taken from that rare and scandalous underground magazine The Pearl, with a learned introduction by sexual historian Dr Christopher Hart. Like a miniature Scarlet Library title, Sylvie Jones' delicate line drawings create a book within a book. And for desert there's a brace of utterly, shamelessly, wonderfully rude crosswords, too.

Please Don't Leave This Book Lying Around...

My Pillow Book is a celebration of my seven-year relationship with Erotic Review Books, and with its discreet exterior, it's also the perfect companion for the summer break, whether at home or abroad - on the beach or in your hotel bedroom. If you need a present for your more broadminded friends they will have nothing to fear if you arrive bearing this particular gift (however, there are some extremely explicit images - so please be a little circumspect about who you give it to). And don't expect to see it ever again if you leave it lying around...