An Essay on Woman. by WILKES, John.

London: Privately Printed, 1871. Full straight grain calf, 8.75 inches tall. A superb copy of this notorious item of erotica. With wide gilt raised bands, fine gilt tooled panels, boards, dentelles and all edges. Printed in black and red, reportedly in a deluxe edition of 250. The extraordinary Wilkes, member of the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe, also known as the Hellfire Club, wrote this pornographic poem dedicated to the courtier Fanny Murray entitled "An Essay on Woman" as a parody of Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man". Having been outlawed in 1769 he became Lord Mayor of London in 1774!