Title: French Postcards: An Album of Vintage Erotica Author: Martin Stevens, editor Publisher: Rizzoli International Publish Date: 2007 Pages: 144 Genres:: Straight Photography, Compilation, History, Non-Fiction, Women's Studies Reviewer: Chris R. Morgan

Rating:

The vintage label implies to many, especially of the highbrow bloc, that something only gets better with age. Such an assertion is more than appropriate for whiskies, wines and various cheeses. Pornography is not so founded in the older is better motif. However, there are legions of the curious who itch to dive deep into the world of smut that existed before smut had the privilege of legality, mainstream attraction and bulging budgets. Indeed, porn was a clandestine industry and a thoroughly dirty thing to own in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, it's not like these photos are any different from what we've seen in the most tasteful and influential skin magazines. 

Martin Stevens' collection of dirty postcards is an astounding look into the perversions of our great-grandparents. Much of what is known of Europe in the time leading up to the Great War was the prim and proper Victorian Age when the ankle was a jerkable object of lust. But unless you are a historical porn enthusiast (like myself), you wouldn't be immediately aware of the host of sex that was undulating from within the underbelly. France provided a fantastic girth of such porn that was distributed under the counter via newsstands and sailors. From within the discreet brown wrapping paper, however, were luscious, lavish presentation with a diverse crop of classic beauties. One thing you take from this collection was the pleasant lack of stringent beauty standards that damn every lag mag on the magazine stands today. Some girls are more curvy and buxom at the hips while other are more fitting to today's standards. 

Such variety is not limited to looks though, as personalities also come in a gloriously inconsistent package. Some photos show a playful, youthful damsel wearing nothing but an exquisite hat with a flamboyant feather or spreading her legs while standing on the bottom rungs of a ladder while giving off a glow of virginal flirtatiousness. Others are more wistful, enigmatic and angelic as they stare pensively outward, their thin sheet falling well below the waist. These are the most beautiful of shots that put just as much emphasis on the face as they do everything that can be seen under the face. 

While the more galavanting sets are of a rare, classical sexiness, some photos do feature men in mock-ups of brothels. The men are fully clothed in the presence of the scantily dressed to completely undressed women. These photos are ones that are more likely to be left to the postmodern gender analysis, whatever that may be. Also included are shots of the colonial beauties in Africa and elsewhere that served as an exotic curiosity to many in the conquering nations. Indeed, some of these are some of the most alluring images in the book. Their eyes penetrate much more acutely than the angelic Caucasians. I'd go so far as to say that they look more human and less like models.

To some, these photos hardly meet the standards for which many men need to achieve a hard-on. Fair enough, but there's a great deal of appreciation for these fine artifacts of skin history. Considering that such posing was taboo at the time, it's a credit to these women for giving such attention-getting, powerful looks into the camera, seemingly without shame and some of these women were, stars, so to speak. Granted they don't stand out as much as the ones of today, but they do serve as fine examples of who were enticing men into lustful fervor. Some of these photos are indeed still sexy.