It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394–1471) Hermaphroditus (commonly referred to as Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in Renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work.

The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique.

One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions.

In Robert A. Heinlein's last novel, To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987), Dr Ira Johnson uses the book for sexual education.

Media related to Avril's illustrations to De figuris Veneris at Wikimedia Commons