I can still remember how my heart leapt to my throat the first time I entered the Janus Shop at 40 Old Compton Street. It was the late winter of 1986. I was 22 years old and visiting London with my parents, who were stationed with the US Diplomatic Corps across the ditch in Belgium.  How I learned of the shop’s existence I can no longer say – very likely from an advert on the back page of a tourist guide. I am even certain that I knew of Janus as a publication then, although my hyper – sensitive ‘spanko’ eye would have scarcely missed it on a newsstand. In any case, I was convinced that I harbored a shameful secret, like Cain cast out to wander Earth alone – and without an internet password! What a revelation that Old Compton Shop was! I felt like a kid in the proverbial candy shop. I rushed back to my parents’ hotel with my magazine purchase in a black plastic bag, locked myself into the  bathroom, read every word from cover to cover, and in the process made very short work of my member – and undoubtedly more than once (what joy and what torment to be so young!). From that moment on the artwork and stories became a fixture of my sexual life. They were still with me when I finally found my first spanking partner, some thirteen years later. Even today specific images come back to me unbidden , from this photo – set or that drawing or from this or the other story detail. How exciting to come across this website now and see that the old world has not been forgotten: I feel like a former East German with ‘Ostalgie,’ or like someone who grew up in the old Soviet Union. It’s delightful to recognize my old favorite images – and discover new ones I missed the first time through. And BTW , Paula Meadows , I love you!

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We would love to hear your old Janus memories. Tarquin