When Penguin Books US hired French artist Malika Favre to illustrate the cover of its 2011 edition of the Kama Sutra, she created letterforms that highlighted the erotic nature of the text, riffing on the two thousand-year old manual’s recommendations for sex positions.
O: The Orb
Favre’s original commission was for just the six letters in the book’s title, but it inspired her to create an entire alphabet of copulating couples. You can see the artistic results at The Kama Sutra Project, though I still find the anatomical feasibility of some of those positions hard to believe.
I: The Imperious Pole
Art by Malika Favre, used with permission.