The Oyster: Volumes V and VI

The Oyster was a journal published in Victorian England that celebrated, rather than vilified, the pleasures of the flesh. Displaying a delightfully uninhibited and erotic style, its author was forced to remain anonymous in order to avoid persecution. Copies of the journal were privately distributed, passed on like secrets from one parlor room to the next. The series was largely forgotten until an obscure edition was rediscovered in the 1980s—and the result was a literary sensation. With its unexpected liveliness, wit, and—to this day—shock value—the much-anticipated Books V and VI are everything readers have been waiting for.