The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotica (Mammoth Books)

This book has tons of beautiful nude photographs from dozens of different photographers. It's a great way to get photos from your favorite nude photographers even if they're out of print and expensive, like 20th Century Studio Nudes by Craig Morey and Orgasm XL by Tony Ward.

It has over 500 pages of black and white photographs. The book is medium-sized, but feels like it weighs a few pounds. If you cut out these pictures from the book, they'd fit in 4x6 or 5x7 frames.

The photographer list is impressive: Henrik Agelby, Sarah Ainslie, Claude Alexandre, Marc Atkins, Pascal Paetens, Trevor Baker, Carlos Batts, Philippe Baud, Gilles Berquet, Martin Boelt, Kevin Breaux, Adam Butler, Mario Cipollini, Bob Carlos Clarke, Mike Crawley, John Dietrich, Wolfgang Eichler, Tim Fairchild, Jody Frost, Roger Gaess, Charles Gatewood, Steve Diet Goedde, Michael Grapin, China Hamilton, Petter Hegre, Benjamin Hoffman, S. D. Holman, R. C. Horsh, Bill Hudson, Laurie Jeffrey, Chas Ray Krider, Francoise Lacroix, Jack R. Lindholm, Nic Marchant, Maurizo Mauri, Aeric Meredith-Goujon, Craig Morey, R. F. Morton, Christophe Mourthe, Hans Peter Muff, Anja Muller, Nicholas, Marc Odley, Mikhail Palinchak, Jorge Parra, Mick Payton, Brian Peterson, Jefferson Powers, Elizabeth Prouvost, Housk Randall, Cat De Rham, Gabriele Rigon, Kevin Roberts, Charles Roff, Michael Rosen, Christer Rosewell, Maurice Salmon, Marco Sanges, John Santerineross, Craig Scoffone, G. Scott, Michele Serchuk, Cliff Sidnell, David Steinberg, Julie Strain, Roy Stuart, Roger Tassin, Kerry R. Tracy, Marc Travanti, Tohil Trevino, Mikkel Urup, Veretta, Marc Adrian Villas, Tony Ward, Trevor Watson, Ben Westwood, James Williams, Harry Wynn

This is a good volume for those just starting in the erotic arts. It's not terrible graphic but it is varied in it's portrayal of the erotic and pin-up arts. While some are bothered by the lack of explicit or more racy images I can assure anyone considering this book it's not for the church lady in your house. As an introduction it's perfect. There are images in soft focus and with sharper clarity in others it provides small doses of edgier portraits without crossing so far over the line that your significant other will send you packing for being a pervert. There is a lot of beauty in the book but there are not any seriously digitally enhanced images. These are real women and they are not making a case in their postures claiming to be "good" girls. They are sexual and they wear their skin very well.
For the price this is a nice, thick book and the format allows for discreet placement away from the attention of casual snoops.

Hello everyone I am one of the models in this book,I am located on page 474 and also on 479. I think the book is a tell all of peoples lives and the beauty of photography,I think that it is an expression of the photographers inner selves as well as the models pictured. Each photographer was to pick 8 pictures that they felt was a portrayal of their image and only a few were selected to be put into the book itself! How dare people that have written the reviews that knock this book,if you wanted to buy porn this is not the book for you.It is a portrayal of both the photograher and model working together to get a work of art!
It's not like these woman were forced to do this and "Hey here's the outcome!" It's the beauty of letting go, walking on the other side, and most people in this world don't explore that side or ever get the chance to!I'm happy with the results that came from this book,it's nice to look back to the time I was able to express myself through photography and have fun doing it! This book gives examples of alot of differant shadowing techniques,lighting, postioning, and timing,and it opens the minds of very few people to ask themselves, "I wonder what this person was thinking with the way they were looking at that very point?"That is the art part of this book,if you don't have an open mind then don't buy it!If you crave things unknown to you then buy it!

This is a visual survey of (almost all female) nudes. I would not call it 'erotica' simply because I associate erotica with sex and with sexual feelings. This collection has nothing to do with sex and little to do with sexual feeling; it has everything to do with stylized poses, various visual effects (some quite interesting), and a seeming penchant for bondage dress-up.

Some of the people are quite pretty to look at; perhaps ironically, some of the most appealing pictures are of models without props or obvious poses. People are interesting--so why not just show them? This is perhaps as close to "erotic" as this collection comes.

It is amusing that this smallish book--barely larger than a standard paperback book--is entitled 'mammoth.' It is no more that than it is erotic. Still, because some of the photos are nice, I rather generously award it four stars.

I think the photographs are well done, but I just do not like the book and wish I hadn't bought it.