# Recommend some Victorian or Edwardian porn **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860 "2006-10-18T00:32:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/1 "2006-10-18T00:32:49Z")
I like Victorian and Edwardian erotica. So far, I’ve read _A Man with a Maid_ and the memoirs of Cora Pearl and the autobiography of Frank Harris. Can you recommend some other titles? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/2 "2006-10-18T00:53:14Z")
What was that story about a gardner? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/3 "2006-10-18T00:54:44Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] What was that story about a gardener? 😃 [/QUOTE] a gardener and his Lady? 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/4 "2006-10-18T01:01:28Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] a gardener and his Lady? 😃😃😃 [/QUOTE] Are you thinking of _Lady Chatterly’s Lover_ about a baronet’s lady and her husband’s gamekeeper? I’ve read it once.. Won’t read it again. I’m not fond of D.H. Lawrence, who’s tedious, coy and pretentious. I want some straightforward, lusty rumpy-pumpy, with a few violated virgins and some birching thrown in for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/5 "2006-10-18T01:29:31Z")
_A Night in a Moorish Harem_. There are also some nice collections available, including selections from _The Pearl_, a periodical for discearning readers, published around 1880. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/6 "2006-10-18T01:48:01Z")
If Early Hanoverian isn’t a problem I give you [_Fanny Hill_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hill) (John Cleland: published 1748/1749). This work will suit you down to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/7 "2006-10-18T02:02:57Z")
[_My Secret Life_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Secret_Life), the anonymous, multi-volume diary of one priapic Victorian’s sex life. [Still in print](http://www.amazon.com/My-Secret-Life/dp/0451526023). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/8 "2006-10-18T02:08:54Z")
[The Pearl.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Coote) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/9 "2006-10-18T02:28:15Z")
• [_Venus in Furs_](http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Furs-Leopold-von-Sacher-Masoch/dp/1406800198/), the 1870 erotic novel by [Leopold von Sacher-Masoch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_furs), from whose name we get the word “masochism.” • [_Maurice_](http://www.amazon.com/Maurice-Novel-E-M-Forster/dp/0393310329), a novel of homosexual love, written by [E.M. Forster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.M._Forster) (1879-1970) in 1913-1914, but not published until after his death. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/10 "2006-10-18T02:29:56Z")
[Sadopaideia: Being the Experiences of Cecil Prendergast Shewing How He Was Led Through the Pleasant Paths of Masochism to the Supreme Joys of Sadism.](http://www.amazon.com/Sadopaideia-Experiences-Prendergast-Undergraduate-University/dp/0394542657/sr=8-2/qid=1161138369/ref=sr_1_2/104-4746201-1595126?ie=UTF8&s=books) > [@](#): > > "This work, secretly published for the Underground of Edwardian England in 1907, may well rival “My Secret Life” as an important literary discovery drawn from the library of volumes ‘privately printed for discriminating readers with mature tastes.’ > > “Cecil Prendergast, an undergraduate at Oxford, meets Mrs. Muriel Harcourt at his College Ball. He is soon visiting her at her town house in London, the victim of an overwhelming infatuation. A bewitching young widow, elegant and respectable, Muriel is also a flagellatrice, and she and her campanion, Juliette, soon introduce Cecil to the lash…” > > As with many of these clandestine works from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentienth centuries, the true identity of the author of “Sadopaideia” remains unknown…‘Cecil Prendergast,’ notes (one of the best known scholars in the field) Dr. Fritz Beobachter, ‘is, in my opinion, an anagram of the author’s real name. To date, however, I have been unable to solve the puzzle of the anagram, although I am on the trail of one Cecil Garpenderst, a little known but highly respected Edwardian poet who died of a ruptured petard in 1917.’…" Could it be … our Cecil? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/11 "2006-10-18T02:37:08Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] > [@](#): > > As with many of these clandestine works from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentienth centuries, the true identity of the author of “Sadopaideia” remains unknown…‘Cecil Prendergast,’ notes (one of the best known scholars in the field) Dr. Fritz Beobachter, ‘is, in my opinion, an anagram of the author’s real name. To date, however, I have been unable to solve the puzzle of the anagram, although I am on the trail of one Cecil Garpenderst, a little known but highly respected Edwardian poet who died of a ruptured petard in 1917.’…" Could it be … our Cecil? [/QUOTE] Nah. Sounds like Philip Jose Farmer to me. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/12 "2006-10-18T02:39:02Z")
If you like visual Victorian porn, there’s a LiveJournal community dedicated to the subject. This link is work safe. You have to be a member of LJ and post your age to see pics. [vintage\_sex - Profile](http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_sex/profile) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/13 "2006-10-18T03:13:27Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Nah. Sounds like Philip Jose Farmer to me. [/QUOTE] Nah, it’s true Edwardiana. I found that Blue Moon Books did a reprint of it in the late 1990s - probably not too surprisingly, since Barney Rosset founded both Blue Moon and Grove Press, the original publisher - although you can get used copies of the 1967 Grove Press edition much more cheaply. Blue Moon has done an entire line of “Victorian” erotica (much of which is really Edwardian or later) that includes dozens of titles. It’s the place to start to inexpensively research the era. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/14 "2006-10-18T03:21:47Z")
:eek: Oh, sweet Jesus, where is the brain bleach? :eek: This thread reads like my grandmother’s bookshelf. Literally. She has all these books. I had no fucking idea. Urgh. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/15 "2006-10-18T03:41:35Z")
Why does that upset you? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/16 "2006-10-18T04:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] [_My Secret Life_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Secret_Life), the anonymous, multi-volume diary of one priapic Victorian’s sex life. [Still in print](http://www.amazon.com/My-Secret-Life/dp/0451526023). [/QUOTE] [And online.](http://www.my-secret-life.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/17 "2006-10-18T04:21:57Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] :eek: Oh, sweet Jesus, where is the brain bleach? :eek: This thread reads like my grandmother’s bookshelf. Literally. She has all these books. I had no fucking idea. Urgh. [/QUOTE] Yeah, didn’t the baby boomers invent sex? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/18 "2006-10-18T07:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] [And online.](http://www.my-secret-life.com/) [/QUOTE] Wow. That stuff’s every bit as dirty as what’s written today! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/19 "2006-10-18T07:45:39Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Why does that upset you? [/QUOTE] Nobody needs to imagine naked mole rats holing up in a leather canyon. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860/20 "2006-10-18T08:17:36Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Yeah, didn’t the baby boomers invent sex? [/QUOTE] _Sexual intercourse_ In 1963, if [Philip Larkin is to be believed](http://www.quotationsbook.com/quotes/36108/view) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-victorian-or-edwardian-porn/376860.md?page=2)