Does anyone know the origin of the phrase, "Would you like to come up to see my etchings?"?

Never even heard it - what does it mean, anyway?

@elliot:

It's a classic pickup line attributed to artists as an excuse to get the young lady in question to come back to the artist's home.

Sadly, I don't know it's origin. I associate it with Hipster-era Paris, if that's any clue.

I know I had heard that as a joke as early as 1960. Mae West famously said: "why don't you come up and see me some time?" as a pick up line in a 30's movie (Way Out West?) so the concept is at least that old.

There was a popular fiction of the smooth, sophisticated guy looking to seduce the naive young girl that goes back further then that. In the teens there was a song "Have some Madeira My Dear" that traveled that stereotype. The idea is probably a lot older but the exact phrase may be lost in time.

I had "Why don't you come up to my dorm room to see my antique movie posters" used on me once. Being the naive young thing I was, I had no idea it was a pickup line. Boy, was I surprised. The posters were great. I had no idea what she was getting at. Boy, was she surprised to discover I was only interested in her for her posters.

I think it’s a very old line, probably from a movie. About twenty years ago (?) I remember laughing at a drawing in the New Yorker in which the famous line got spoofed. A couple is sitting in a lobby, and he tells her (something like): “No, you wait here, I’ll bring the etchings down.”