Beardsley’s unfinished erotic novel originally appeared in a heavily censored form in the magazine The Savoy, but this limited edition volume containing the unexpurgated text was issued anonymously by publisher Leonard Smithers, who also released pornographic titles under false company names. Without illustrations from Beardsley, the book is a little unimpressive, and the text itself would be unlikely to have achieved literary fame were it not for Beardsley’s reputation as an artist. Largely constituted of descriptions of sexual acts, the book is open at what has often been claimed as the first English language published depiction of male anal sex.