The Mammoth Book Of Illustrated Erotica: Amazon.ca: Maxim Jakubowski, Marilyn Jaye Lewis: Books

Product Description

As artful as it is exciting, as tasteful as it is daring, this up-market illustrated Mammoth volume offers a massive gallery of stunning images by eighty photographers who have set the trends in nude photography and made a mark with their erotica in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Among the photographers included by the editors of this piquant and varied collection stand Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Wolfgang Eichler, Bob Carlos Clarke, Mario Testino, Wolfgang Tilmans, Roy Stuart, Trevor Watson, Michele Serchuk, Trevor Baker, Pascal Baetens, and Eric Kroll. All the photographers in the volume are generously represented by six pages of images that showcase their particular talent to best advantage in highly nuanced, top-quality black-and-white reproductions. Accompanying the presentation of each set of images, meticulously chosen for their aesthetic as well as their erotic appeal, are brief biographical vignettes of the photographers themselves that together provide a survey of developments and experiments that have advanced the artistry of contemporary erotic photography.

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

20 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars buyer beware, July 6 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mammoth Book Of Illustrated Erotica (Paperback)

Seven quick points:
First, note the dimensions of this book: 5 1/2" wide by 7 5/8" tall by 1 1/4" thick. About my hand's length tall and a thumb's length thick, not "several inches thick" as one of the other reviewers states. None of the pictures are large, most are 4" by 6 1/4" or so.
Second, note that the pictures are BLACK AND WHITE ONLY. Very artsy, yeah. Not very erotic if you're not color blind.
Third, there are only a few photos from each of several artists, not enough to get a real flavor for any of them.
Fourth, many of the bios of the photographers are pretty funny due to being so pretentious and self-centered. Who cares when these people got their first camera or whether they do photography for a living? The photos should speak for themselves, but so few of them do.
Fifth, lots of bondage. OK, lots of people like that, but be forewarned. If seeing women degraded upsets you, buy something else.
Sixth, lots of pretentious crap photos. "Ooh, look at me! I'm a published photographer! I can take pictures of naked girls in front of walls where the paint is peeling!" "Jejune" is the word that comes to mind. That and "tired" and "derivative." Some good photos, but few memorable ones. None that are really erotic in the sense of conveying the power of sexuality. What you see is the way women try to make themselves attractive to men or other women.
Seventh, if you want links to porn web sites, here they are! Many of the photographers list their web sites in their bios, and the web sites have some public teasers but invite you to pay them your hard-earned money for some porno.
I wish I had something comparable to recommend instead, but unfortunately most visual erotica is of lower caliber. Is there anything out there that is erotic and high quality?

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars This needs MORE than five stars!, Jan 7 2004

By

Isabella Valentine - www.IsabellaValentine.com (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mammoth Book Of Illustrated Erotica (Paperback)

I own many erotic photography books, I use them for inspiration when I do my paintings, etc. and I must say, this is by far the best book in my collection. It has like 480 pages of black and white photography from some of the most creative photographers ever, and the shots are classy not smutty.

Every photo looks hand-picked with the finest of quality, almost all photos are female nudes, some with couples, some with props or backgrounds... but nothing looks the same. There are many poses, many closeups and zooms, a lot of things from far away, georgous shadows and lighting, and some of it is just mindblowing.

My particular favorites:
* page 179 a naked woman handcuffed squatting with her back shown to us with a cop car in front of her - all you see is her back, the handcuffs, and the cop lights and the outline of her body... and even though there is very little detail, you can SEE how perfect the photo is and it has much emotion in it.

* page 174 an aerial shot of a nude woman lying in the middle of railroad tracks as if she had been dumped... very very emotional photo

* page 163 just one of a selection of bizarre photos that leave you staring at the photo both impressive and eyebrow-raising

* page 377 a nude girl smoking a cigarette by the window and her eyes are just PIERCING you with her hands covering her face...

I could go on and on, each page (all pages feel glossy) has a huge photo and all the pictures are classy. This is pure erotic art. There are no open crotch shots. There is full nudity, but not one photo looks like porn. Each photographer is given a couple paragraphs describing him/her and then that photographer displays their work. There is not a lot of writing in this book, which I like. It is just art art art lots of beautiful photographs that just are wonderful!

I highly recommend this book above all others. I have many books and this one just outdoes them all!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, Jun 17 2003

By

Rolando C Olivares "arciooh" (Camarillo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Mammoth Book Of Illustrated Erotica (Paperback)

My only complaint is that its size is very small, and it is hard to see the photographs in its full glory.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 20 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 20 reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars nice useful refernt book
i bought this book to be used as referent for nude drawing, and as such, i't proven to be very useful, a lot of very good quality photos, in black and white (all you color lovers,... Read more

Published on April 30 2003 by A. Dan

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reference material.
I am very interested in photography, especially fetish fashion style photography. I found this book to be a great reference source for information about photographers in this... Read more

Published on Feb 3 2003 by mystic1369

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Another One!
How many more 'histories of nude photography' can be produced without depleting the national ink reserves which will certainly result in books, such as Lady Chatterly's Lover,... Read more

Published on Jan 22 2003 by 2bymeta4

5.0 out of 5 stars From a low-brow idiot's POV...
I'm not really into fetish stuff, but this book is simply outstanding. Nothing but beautiful, mostly B&W photos of various models from various photographers. Read more

Published on Dec 18 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of technical nude photographs
Some photos here are not that interesting but fortunately the majority of the photographers had something to say with their pictures. The website links are also most helpful. Read more

Published on Dec 18 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars Erotica Notica: This is nude photography not erotica...
Erotica Notica

This is a wide selection of nude photography from a wide number of photographers. It's erotic only in the sense of naked women - a few photos have some sexual... Read more

Published on Nov 8 2002 by Joe

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot stuff
Yes, the photos are small and black-and-white, but they are very artistic, high quality, and erotic. Read more

Published on Sep 9 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Book - Gives you a taste of many genre
I absolutly love this book. It was a bit smaller (slightly larger than a paperback) that I thought it was going to be but it is 2" thick (almost 500pgs). Read more

Published on Aug 18 2002 by sombersun

5.0 out of 5 stars The beautiful female form
I received this book yesterday and it exceeded my expectations!! The various photographers have definitely captured the sensual side of women through light and shadow. Read more

Published on July 20 2002 by John B. Kendrick

4.0 out of 5 stars Artistic Photos
This is a great book that celebrates various aspects of feminine beauty. Women are depicted from a variety of angles and the number of photos is astounding. Read more

Published on Jun 4 2002