Merryland, Thomas Stretzer (Privately Issued, New York, Robin Hood House, 1932)
9 3/8″ X 6 1/4″, 136pp, hardbound no DJ, decorative paper boards with mylar protector, flower design, gilt lettering on spine, very good condition
The Merryland books were a somewhat peculiar genre of English seventeenth and eighteenth century erotic fiction in which the female body was described in terms of a topographical metaphor derived from a pun on Maryland. Stretzer’s book is typical of the genre in depicting the female body as a landscape that men explore, till, and plow. For example, he writes: “Her valleys are like Eden, her hills like Lebanon, she is a paradise of pleasure and a garden of delight.”
