French Postcards

This is a great book by Martin Stevens. The images are sepia-toned, hand-colored photo postcards of female nudes in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. And they are quite humorously posed. It's a steal at $14.96 on Amazon :"Artfully posed with classical architecture or in flirtatious dishabille with stockings and lingerie, the winking models embody the erotic fantasies of a repressed society. Some of the women shown are demure and shy, wearing a slip or low-cut blouse-a great tease in an age when showing an ankle was scandalous. Their daring glimpses of decolletage carry a particular charge, so rare in today's world of overexposure. These cards were sold, often in packets, at street kiosks and under tabac counters, hush-hush but nevertheless ubiquitous. As foreigners flooded the city in the early part of the 20th-century, the cards became cherished souvenirs that were secretly collected and shared among men abroad."

The Art of Amy Crehore