Toilet Trysting: Vintage Glory Hole

Sunday, March 10th, 2019 -- by Bacchus

The notion of fucking through a small hole in a barrier wall probably dates back to ribald riffs on Ovid’s tale of Pyramus and Thisbe. The earliest depiction in erotic art that I’ve come across is this glory hole between toilets illustration by Paul Gavarni, the date for which is sometimes given as “circa 1840” and sometimes as “circa 1852”:

vintage glory hole in an old pit toilet

The artwork is often found cropped narrow and tall, as on this postcard-type board:

vintage glory hole with peeping tom voyeur

It was not easy finding a large and complete scan of the uncropped work.

Interestingly, the art is usually found with the incredibly pretentious title The Place Of Pleasure attached to it. But one source (a poor digital photo from Erotic Art – From the 17th to the 20th Century: The Dopp Collection) not only offers us a much earthier title, it also seems to show us a more sensitive treatment of the coloring, if that is not just a photographic artifact:

knothole version of vintage glory hole

According to that book/photo, the artwork is called Das Astloch (The Knothole). Does this make sense, when the gloryhole in question is an engineered contrivance of riveted metal plates? Perhaps not. But I like it better nonetheless.

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