De figuris Veneris

{{Short description|Anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics}}

{{italic title}}

{{distinguish|De omnibus Veneris Schematibus}}

{{Infobox book|

| name = De figuris Veneris

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = Édouard-Henri Avril (31).jpg

| caption = Cover of {{Lang|la|De figuris Veneris}}

| author = Friedrich Karl Forberg

| illustrator = Édouard-Henri Avril

| cover_artist = Édouard-Henri Avril

| country = Germany

| language = Latin and Greek
translated to German, English, French, Spanish

| series =

| genre =

| publisher =

| release_date = 1824

| media_type =

| pages =

| isbn =

| isbn_note =

| dewey =

| congress =

| oclc =

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

{{lang|la|De figuris Veneris}} (On the figures of Venus) is an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394–1471) {{lang|la|Hermaphroditus}} (commonly referred to as {{lang|la|Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus}}), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in Renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work.

Forberg's work was later also translated into English in 1899 and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology,{{cite book | url=https://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/55353/donald-thomas/long-time-burning-the-history-of-literary-censorship-in-england-a | title=A Long Time Burning: the History of Literary Censorship in England | first=Donald | last=Thomas | authorlink=Donald Serrell Thomas | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=1969 | page=284 | access-date=2017-08-28 | archive-date=2017-08-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828105921/https://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/55353/donald-thomas/long-time-burning-the-history-of-literary-censorship-in-england-a | url-status=dead }} and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch,{{cite book | title=Other Objects of Desire: collectors and collecting queerly | first1=Michael | last1=Camille | first2=Adrian | last2=Rifkin | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | year=2001 | isbn=0-631-23361-X | pages=86–87 }} and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled {{lang|fr|Manuel d’érotologie classique}}. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions.{{cite book | title=Schooling Sex: libertine literature and erotic education in Italy, France, and England, 1534–1685 | first=James | last=Turner | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2003 |page=391 | isbn=0-19-925426-5 }} Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the {{lang|fr|Bibliothèque nationale de France}}. The Spanish translation was titled {{lang|es|Manual de erótica clásica}}.