The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight is one of the most famous Arabic sex manuals ever to have been written.
From advice on sexual technique to attractive qualities of men and women, it is a seminal text of erotic literature.
It covers a wide variety of subjects, from the positions of coition to the causes of enjoyment. It also discusses old Arabic remedies for impotence, increasing the dimensions of small members and how to treat sterile women.
Interspersed throughout the book are short stories and erotic poetry which Nefzawi uses to illustrate and elaborate upon his advice.
Its influence in erotic literature may be likened to the Kama Sutra, and Richard Burton compared it to Aretin and Rabelais.
The Perfumed Garden was written in sixteenth century Tunisia and is likely to have been written by a number of authors and compiled by Sheik Nefzawi.
As a historical book The Perfumed Garden provides brilliant insight into early modern Arabic sexual practices which we can still learn from and enjoy in the twenty-first century.
It was translated into English by Richard F. Burton in 1886 who also translated The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana and The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night which is more commonly known as The Arabian Nights. Burton died in 1891.
