Captivating erotic photo album containing both original photographs and reproductions on the themes of "punishment and penance", which in most cases means flagellation. This specific album was probably compiled by a certain H[ector] Rabier, whose name is inscribed on the spine and was possibly a young Belgian. Among the reproductions of prints in this album, can be found various images with an erotic nature showing the flagellation of women by men and women, and non-erotic images of the torture and punishment of (female) heretics and witches, including reproductions of artworks. A few series do not involve women and show various types of corporal punishment in the French colonies of Algeria and Indochina and flogging in the British army. A series of 27 images, though not explicitly showing scenes of corporal punishment, shows life in the Parisian women's prison of Saint Lazare, which also doubled as a hospital for the city's prostitutes. 12 photographs show wood engravings of the cruel murder and torture of nude women by Cossacks, most including the pins used to hold the engravings in place. Of the original photographs, two "academic nudes" show a woman from behind, kneeling on top of a chair or hanging face down over a chair or cabinet. The other 17 photographs show a semi-nude woman being bound or tortured by "oriental" men or monks. A montage of small images suggests that the woman-and-monk photographs, probably suggesting a witch or heretic being tortured by the inquisition, formed part of a larger collection on this subject. Although these photographs were obviously intended as pornographic images, they are hardly more explicit than contemporary historical paintings at the Salon, or the images in popular histories.
With the spine somewhat worn and discoloured, the pages of the album very lightly foxed, some of the photographs partly detached from the page, and some of the larger photographs slightly worn and discoloured at the edges; overall both album and photographs are in good condition.