A Sex Manual From 1720 Has Been Found And Shows Weird Attitudes To Sex

A rare 'sex manual' from 1720 revealing the most bizarre beliefs of Georgian England has been unearthed and could fetch hundreds of pounds at auction.

The 300-year-old book offers a fascinating insight into attitudes towards sex at a time in Britain when witches were still burnt at the stake.

They include weird tips to help women avoid giving birth to children 'with a hairy lip, wry mouth or great blubber-lips'.

It also advises men to eat meat, blackbirds and sparrows to 'make the seed abound' before engaging in 'conjugal embraces to invigorate mutual desires'.

Meanwhile, women - who are portrayed as being prone to sexual indulgence - wanting a boy should lie on their right hand side after sex, or on their left for a girl.

It also talks of man being 'the wonder of the world, to whom all things are subordinate' and his seed should be seen as a 'divine gift abundantly endued with vital spirit'.

SWNS/Hansons

The 'secrets of sex manual', which was banned until the 1960s due to its then-shocking (now just plain odd) content, was discovered recently after being handed in to an auction house.

The book - 'Aristotle's Masterpiece Completed In Two Parts, The First Containing the Secrets of Generation' - will go under the hammer next month in Etwall, Derbs.

Jim Spencer, books and manuscripts valuer at Hanson's Auctioneers, said: "The first edition of this book was published in 1684 and it was as good as banned until the 1960s.

SWNS/Hansons

"There were several reasons for that.

"For example, it includes woodcut illustrations of 'monsters' that 'are begot by Women's unnatural lying with Beasts' - an example being a woman 'generating with a dog'.

"There are several illustrations of beast-like creatures including a man sporting a bushy dog's tail and a monster being born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1512."

The archaic manual, which is laced with elements of religion, witchcraft, old wives' tales and astrology, does also include traces of romance in time for Valentine's Day.

It even touches on pregnant women's 'greedy longings for things that are contrary to nutriments' such as 'coals, rubbish, chalk, hob-nails, leather, man's flesh and horse flesh'.

The book, which has an estimate of between £80 and £120, will be sold on 27 March.

Topics: Viral, UK News, Sex and Relationships, Interesting, Weird

Edward Watkinson

Ed Watkinson is a content strategist and editor at LADbible Group. Ed works across both marketing and editorial and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8, Extinct and Trash Isle campaigns.

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