The Sex Box (1996)

Small enough to be held in one hand, the three volumes of The Sex Box feature both erotic fiction and anthropological and religious writing about sex. They include the usual suspects (D.H. Lawrence) as well as pleasant surprises (Neil Jordan) but unaccountably overlook sexperts like Henry Miller and Susie Bright. Much of this largely heterosexual anthology is uproariously funny, but not always intentionally (according to the Kama sutra, ''When a man enjoys many women altogether, it is called the 'congress of a herd of cows.''') Havelock Ellis earnestly explains foot fetishism, and the 11th-century German bishop Burchard of Worms (''Have you fornicated with your mother?'') suggests handy atonements for a variety of transgressions. This isn't, as advertised, ''the raciest, steamiest, most graphic'' collection ever, but it is filled with good, dirty fun. The bylined ''Anonymous,'' by the way, isn't Joe Klein but an unsung editor. B+