PRINTS of prostitutes and their brothel-keepers which may have been the 18th- century equivalent of today’s phone-booth calling cards are among hundreds of items that are to be auctioned in a special “erotica sale” this month.

Bloomsbury Book Auctions is offering prints, drawings, books, photographs, decks of playing cards and other ephemera — all on the theme of sex, and dating from the 18th century onwards — in an auction to be held on November 21.

Portraits of prostitutes of the 1770s, who were usually less than attractive by today’s standards, with facial hair and warts, are part of a set of 14 prints. A dozen of them are represented in the British Museum’s collection. Few have otherwise survived.

John Cumming, a specialist in caricatures and 18th- century prints, said that he is not aware of another set appearing on the market in the past 25 years: “It might not be too fanciful to think of the prints as the 18th-century equivalent of calling-cards. It’s not entirely clear what market they were produced for.”

The auction also includes original illustrations from the ground breaking bestseller, The Joy of Sex. A complete set of 15 colour drawings of the bearded hippy and his partner from the first edition are to be sold by the artist himself, Charles Raymond.

As this is their first appearance on the market since Dr Alex Comfort’s influential textbook and marital aid broke new ground and challenged taboos — outstripping sales of the Bible — they are estimated to fetch up to £30,000.

Rupert Powell, managing director, said: “Though being in the vanguard of revolution, it could only do so within the constraints of contemporary laws. Hence the need to illustrate the book with drawings rather than photographs.

“This set of paintings — the only coloured illustrations in the book — trace a complete sexual episode from the first kiss through arousal to a post-climactic, contented, exhaustion.”

Other rarities include three sensual, Matisse-like sketches by e. e. cummings, the American poet and artist. The fact that he was an artist is generally overshadowed by his writing, but he regarded his art as being as important as his poetry. The three signed drawings, all previously unpublished, show amorous nude couples.

• Bloomsbury Book Auctions, tel. 020-7833 2636.