3.75 avg rating — 8,853 ratings

"Some subtle and not so subtle references to lesbianism, self-relief, mad nuns and beatings. (1770)"

3.23 avg rating — 360 ratings

"Very very explicit - reputedly the best literary erotica (for men?) (1926)"

3.78 avg rating — 26,575 ratings

"She has an affair/bigamy not explicit but was 'sensational' at the time (1867)"

3.28 avg rating — 2,345 ratings

"He doesn't know but she loves another - shocking of it's day(?) but very mild lesbian story (1835)" "

4.09 avg rating — 2,550 ratings

"Some remarkably explicit scenes for this 1887 story "

3.62 avg rating — 16,570 ratings

"The mirror of 'Story of O' (1870, inspired Velvet Underground song)"

3.31 avg rating — 16,883 ratings

"Raging hormones, contemporary swords but a classic (1753, inspired Puccini opera etc)" "

3.74 avg rating — 2,837 ratings

"The original depravity, torture and murder (1899)"

3.96 avg rating — 4,749 ratings

"Occult historic murder some sex (1891)" "

3.27 avg rating — 13,313 ratings

"The famous explicitly fun bawdy story (1749)"

3.55 avg rating — 13,613 ratings

"Challenging gay infatuation with a youthful teenage boy (1902)"

3.30 avg rating — 22,019 ratings

"Submissive woman with inner power (1955)"

3.32 avg rating — 232 ratings

"Banned in its day a fiction based Zola's autobiographical time with a prostiture(1865)"

4.16 avg rating — 1,201 ratings

"child murder, God hating, brutal, satanic, erotic, surreal, poetic (no story) (1868)"

3.91 avg rating — 16,135 ratings

"Slum + lesbian love, murder, forced sex and squalor a la Zola (1890)"

3.42 avg rating — 16,841 ratings

"Moral direction and sex, a seedier F Hill (1787)"

3.64 avg rating — 25,358 ratings

"Seeing from the most intermate location, surreal stuff (1928)"

3.50 avg rating — 137,617 ratings

"The original and quite explicit in a literary way (1928)"

3.52 avg rating — 48,639 ratings

"Non-apologetic bawdy heroine (1722)" "

2.78 avg rating — 11,042 ratings

"Readable, perhaps repetitive, teenager protecting her virtue (1740)"

3.73 avg rating — 38,420 ratings

"Shocking in its day - lusty and a good story (1867)"

4.15 avg rating — 7,800 ratings

"Priest gets a girl pregnant (1875)" "

3.60 avg rating — 2,346 ratings

"Priest gets tempted by a young woman (1875)"

3.39 avg rating — 25,368 ratings

"Hymen restoring old woman brothel owner schemes to get money out of a pair of lovers. Bawdy, earthy language, tragicomedy - the 1st European novel?. A best seller in 1499!"

3.85 avg rating — 928 ratings

"portrays a sordid, squalid sexual repression of a strange group, a bit like Venus in Furs (1923)"

3.79 avg rating — 15,232 ratings

"Hedonist lone writer. (1884)"

3.60 avg rating — 25,402 ratings

"Short erotic classic stories (1940)"

3.58 avg rating — 2,600 ratings

"Voyeur sees lesbians, affairs, death; a 13 year old boy explicitly has first sex with his little sister/cousin. (1908)"

3.54 avg rating — 503 ratings

"It is a strange mix of surrealism, art, autobiography and rather sexually explicit (1928)"

3.89 avg rating — 1,408 ratings

"Earliest French gay 'coming out' in a book? This is a literary, lovely written story of beauty and desire (ending up looking perhaps like soft porn) (1835)"

4.01 avg rating — 7,002 ratings

"This gay author masturbates in prison a lot to his literary creations (1951)"

3.65 avg rating — 16,229 ratings

"Definition : Rabelaisian means to be totally outrageous, raunchy, crude in every way, absolutely stubborn in matters of truth, relentless against hypocrisy (1532)"

3.45 avg rating — 395 ratings

"Talking vaginas (tale actually deeper than this implies) (1748)"

3.06 avg rating — 1,737 ratings

"Not so literary porn. It has it all, including child rape and murder (1907)"

3.73 avg rating — 3,428 ratings

"HIs necrophilia desire for his dead mother impacts on his relationships (1935)"

4.05 avg rating — 58,794 ratings

"So scheming by these letter writers it was banned 40 years after publication (1782)"

3.73 avg rating — 2,022 ratings

"Suppressed by the French Ministry of Justice these 6 novellas were believed to be a danger to public morals (1871)"

3.93 avg rating — 5,124 ratings

"Very funny and philosophical but a forbidden book by the Catholic church, because it so easily shines a light on religious ideas (1759)"

3.06 avg rating — 14,865 ratings

"The filthiest, vilest, brutalist, extremist exploration of the human sexual/religious psyche. {genuine warning} (1789) "

3.76 avg rating — 137,675 ratings

"Classic distorted narrative. Banned for obscenity (if you can really find it) in UK and US until the 1930s (1922)"

3.63 avg rating — 8,000 ratings

"Shocked post WW1 France with this fact based story of an underage affair whilst the husband's the front (1923)"

3.11 avg rating — 482 ratings

"Basically lesbian erotica like De Sade but with a nod to lesbian George Sand whom the author fancied (1833)"

4.41 avg rating — 2,145 ratings

"Brothels of 1890's Russian. Shocked the public of 1907-1915."

3.65 avg rating — 77,945 ratings

"Oblique scenes of Paris or is that obscene Paris - C word and prostitutes (1934)"

3.70 avg rating — 21,682 ratings

"Lesbian teen-affair but overall banned because it was far too sexed up for the age. (1915)"

3.61 avg rating — 2,699 ratings

"Caused a minor scandal for the Victorians due to the interracial love interest with the Moor ( not obvious in the writing though) . (1806)"

4.01 avg rating — 7,010 ratings

"Needed to be, completely unnecessary by any standard really, abridged (for 1950s Britain because the young seventeen girl is rather too free (1954)"

3.53 avg rating — 237,710 ratings

"Middle English classic in the mode of the Decameron - some Rabelasian tales (1387)"

3.74 avg rating — 31 ratings

"Aphrodite - lesbian and young courtesans - risqué for the time (1896)"

3.72 avg rating — 2,779 ratings

"Ruthless battles, rape, murder, atrocities and humour in the 30 years war (1668)"

3.44 avg rating — 177 ratings

"A prostitute's life at the hands of typical males. Banned from France (1876)"

3.41 avg rating — 5,727 ratings

"She uses her few assets in steady of a husband. Maid raped? (1724)"

3.81 avg rating — 21,307 ratings

"C word, promiscuous and frank banned like Tropic of Cancer until 1964 (1939)"

3.72 avg rating — 915 ratings

"Open infidelity and betrayal. Originally refused publication as being too immoral (1892)"

3.19 avg rating — 68 ratings

"An antidote to de Sade but this is basically a porno (1798)"

3.66 avg rating — 1,859 ratings

"An antidote to what might initially look like erotica. People thought it shady at the time (but they probably hadn't read it. Housewife becomes a prostitute (1928)"

3.78 avg rating — 480 ratings

"Original erotic tale in Confucian China -banned (1675)"

3.56 avg rating — 7,638 ratings

"Professor using his hidden 'private diary' to communicate his sexual and voyeuristic preferences to energise his younger wife. (1956)"

4.05 avg rating — 61,558 ratings

"Courtesan carries red flowers during her period - not naught story really (1848)"

3.76 avg rating — 7,194 ratings

"Prosecuted for obscenity (ok not pre-1950s but 1970)"

3.18 avg rating — 51 ratings

"Expose novel about a prostitute and abortionist mother (1877)"

3.39 avg rating — 1,062 ratings

"Banned in 1909 - this youth grows up."

3.68 avg rating — 8,740 ratings

"A middle aged man takes on a 13year old with a view to marriage - looked at by the censors (1924)"

3.80 avg rating — 3,736 ratings

"A 16 year old school girl get embroiled in a lesbian head and crosses her lover. Caused some controversy in its day (1949)"

3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings

"Early gothic but interracial relationships and a gay sexual relationship discovered (1640)"

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10,209 ratings

"Typical Miller banned for obscenity until 1964 (1949)"

3.42 avg rating — 319 ratings

"Lots of redacted paragraphs due to anti-Catholic and rude inference passages (1901)"

3.73 avg rating — 517 ratings

"Nihilism, sex, 3 suicides and inferences to a clothed embrace leading to orgasm. Banned in several countries (1907)"

3.77 avg rating — 19,462 ratings

"Banned in 1928 an open story about being a lesbian - not explicit just open and frank about emotions"

3.28 avg rating — 430 ratings

"First deliberately gay erotica based on the author's experience as a rent boy (1881)"

3.70 avg rating — 288 ratings

"New York banned until 1956. Forthright openness about desire and sexuality"

4.02 avg rating — 84,331 ratings

"1951 Lesbian road trip love story - not banned indeed appreciated in its day."

3.73 avg rating — 71 ratings

"1930s Czech surrealist 18+ poems and photomontages"

3.81 avg rating — 13,398 ratings

"1956. abuse of a minor, rape and murder. A sensational novel in its day."

3.85 avg rating — 17,192 ratings

"155AD a Latin canterbury tales. He is turned into an ass and has sex with a woman. Bawdy and fun."

3.65 avg rating — 1,995 ratings

"1954 rather honest teen lesbian story banned in France for a time"

3.98 avg rating — 253 ratings

"1931 - the film of this mild lesbian story of a teenager at a convent school pre-WW1 was controversial."