The five stories in this collection are taken from Les Crimes de I'Amour, originally published in 1800. Sade is best known for his major sensational books, yet in his lifetime these appeared in anonymous or clandestine editions. It was while he was detained in prison and incarcerated in the asylum at Charenton that he decided to follow his 'philosophical' novel Aline et Valcour with writings more accessible to the general public. He wanted to prove he was not a mere pornographer but a moralist, like Voltaire and other contemporaries. In Crimes of Love Sade contends that love can often lead to crime, and thence to punishment.