An auction house is selling an 18th century “sex manual” – which advises men to improve their performance by eating sparrows, parsnips and young pigeons.

Other parts of the 1720 book reflect on pregnant women’s supposed longing to eat items such as coals, chalk and leather.

Jim Spencer, books and manuscripts valuer at Hansons Auctioneers, in Etwall, near Derby, said: “A century after women first won the right to vote in the UK, this book takes us back to very different times.

“It talks of man being ‘the wonder of the world, to whom all things are subordinate’. Meanwhile, women are painted as being prone to sexual indulgence.”

The book, which has an estimate of £80-£120, will go under the hammer on March 27.