> Porn invented in the nineteenth century? I seriously doubt this.
I've mentioned it here before, but Gilles Neret has collected literally thousands of images going back to the 16th century and beyond for his Erotica Universalis books (two volumes so far, inexpensive) published by Taschen:
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/sex/all/facts/01820.htm
Of course the central question is how these images, like Agostino Carracci's "The Loves of the Gods" (c. 1602) or the engravings of Borel and Elluin would have been interpreted in the context in which they were made. But it's hard not to notice that many of the very old images evince what would seem to be the same kind of whimsical, indulgent qualities that are intrinsic to contemporary pornographic imagery.
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/ dave /