Reddit reviews The Decameron (Penguin Classics)

Giovanni Boccaccio's book "The Decameron" was written in the 1350's.

It contains some rape/kidnapping erotica, tales of people being nursed back to health that lead to sex, a tale of a harem-esque experience, seduction by deception, lots of affairs with other people's spouses (some approved some discreet), sex outdoors, "quickies" with risk of discovery, and many other kinky/erotic stories.

1350 is not traditionally, "antiquity," but many of the sources of his work were earlier collections and stories that had been told for many years.

Here is a summary of all the stories.

Here is a Brown University project dedicated to study and dissection of the work.

Here is where you can buy the book.

Here is where you can get a free online copy.

The book does not paint the sex acts or other acts (violence, etc) in any broad brush. Some of them are humorous (a story I recall of a woman having sex with her lover leaning up against a barrel her husband is inside, cleaning), some are serious.

I won't pretend to know much about the popularity of the work in it's time among "commoners," but it was collected in the 1350's and we still have it available today.

"Decameron" - by - Giovanni Boccaccio
It's an Italian Renaissance story.
http://www.amazon.com/Decameron-Penguin-Classics-Giovanni-Boccaccio/dp/0140449302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395609277&sr=8-1&keywords=decameron

Well, I found my first new book for this winter!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140449302/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
Thanks, u/dr_spork!

I was able to read up on it here too:
https://archive.org/stream/storiesboccacci00boccgoog/storiesboccacci00boccgoog_djvu.txt

But it seems like it'd be worth $7.74 for a proper paperback.

The Decameron by Giovanni Bocaccio