Friday, 31 July 2009

Eighteenth-Century Erotic Texts Online


Facsimile Texts and Downloadable pdfs

Below are links to eighteenth-century editions of works I include in my Checklist of Eighteenth-Century Erotica (2004) that are on Google Books, The Internet Archive, etc. There are very few online, but I'll add items as I find them.

[UPDATE: 14 July 2013 There has been a significant increase in the number of these texts online, largely due to the appearance of texts from the Remota collection at the Bavarian State Library in 2011, which I am now discovering. This collection includes most of the most significant works of eighteenth-century erotica known to survive. It also includes a few of the of the few most important late seventeenth-century works, translations of European erotica which constituted the hard core of pornographic texts available in the eighteenth-century. Despite the incongruity of including seventeenth-century works here, I am including them anyway because of their significance.

UPDATE: 12 May 2017 A further increase has occured to this list as works from the British Library's Private Case are appearing on Google Books; I have also recently updated a series of dead links, including the URL for John Wilkes, An Essay on Woman—one of the most pornographic pieces of from the period—which has changed three times since I added it!]

Michel Millot, The School of Venus, Or The Ladies Delight Reduced into Rules of Practice. Being the Translation of the French L’Escoles des filles. In Two Dialogues (1680)

The Dutch Riddle: Or, a Character of a Hairy Monster, Often Found in Holland, Etc. (n.d. [1706?]).

Ned Ward, The Pleasures of a Single Life: or, The miseries of Matrimony (1709)

Wit and Mirth; Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy. Vol. 1, 4th ed. (1714)
Wit and Mirth; Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy. Vol. 2, 3rd ed. (1712)
Wit and Mirth; Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy. Vol. 3, 3rd ed. (1712)
Wit and Mirth; Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy. Vol. 4, 2nd ed. (1709)

The Life Of the late Celebrated Mrs. Elizabeth Wisebourn, Vulgarly call’d Mother Wybourn ([1721]; rpt. 1885)

The Benefits and Privileges of Cuckolds (1728)

The Merry-Thought: Or, The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany. Part 1, 3rd ed. (1731)
The Merry-Thought: Or, The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany. Part 2. (1733)
The Merry-Thought: Or, The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany. Part 3. (1734)
The Merry-Thought: Or, The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany. Part 4. (1735)

The Ladies Delight (1740)

A Merry Allegorico-Botanico-Badinical Piece; Or, The Natural History of the Arbor Vitæ: Or the Tree of Life (1740)

["The Cabinet of Love" (5 poems)] in The Works Of the Earls of Rochester etc. (1718), vol.2, 193–223.
["The Cabinet of Love" (10 poems)] in The Works Of the Earls of Rochester etc. (1739), vol.2, 178–216. [Bavarian State Library copy]
["The Cabinet of Love" (10 poems)] in The Works Of the Earls of Rochester etc. (1739), vol.2, 178–216. [Lyon Public Library copy]
["The Cabinet of Love" (10 poems)] in The Works Of the Earls of Rochester etc. (1752), vol.2, 137–67. [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
["The Cabinet of Love" (10 poems)] in The Works Of the Earls of Rochester etc. (1752), vol.2, 137–67. [Ghent University copy]

The School of Venus: Or, The Lady's Miscellany, 2nd. ed. (1739)

The Tryal of a Cause for Criminal Conversation, Between Theophilus Cibber … and William Sloper (1739)

Nicolas Chorier, A Dialogue Between A Married Lady And A Maid (1740)

The Secret History Of Betty Ireland. Who was trepann’d into marriage at the age of fourteen (1740; rpt. ca. 1788)

The Secret History Of Betty Ireland. Who was trepann’d into marriage at the age of fourteen (1740; rpt. ca. 1790)

William Hatchett, A Chinese Tale (1740)
William Hatchett, A Court Lady's Curiosity … A Chinese Novel (1741) NEW

The Potent Ally; Or, Succours from Merryland, 2nd ed. (1741). ¶ Contains three poems in praise of condoms.

A Voyage to Lethe (1741; rpt. 1885) [University of Michigan copy]
A Voyage to Lethe (1741; rpt. 1885) [Jack Horntip copy; OCR text and PDF]

Thomas Stretser, A New Description of Merryland, 8th ed. (1741?)
Thomas Stretser, A New Description of Merryland, 10th ed. (1742).

Eliza Haywood, Ab.56.3 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, vol.1 (1742; rprt. 1787) NEW
Eliza Haywood, Ab.56.3 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, vol.2 ("1783" [=1787]) NEW

The Machine: Or, Love's Preservative (1744)

John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749), vol. 1., vol. 2. [1st ed. at EuGMu]
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749; rpt. 1888) [Jack Horntip copy; OCR text and PDF]
John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) [Project Gutenberg EBook]
John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure ("1749") [a reprint edition], vol. 1. [EuGMu]
John Cleland, Nouvelle traduction de woman of pleasure, ou fille de joie … Avec figures (1793) [illustrated translation], vol. 1., vol. 2. [EuGMu]

Les Bijoux Indiscrets. Or, The Indiscreet Toys (1749), vol.1, vol.2. [Oxford University copy]
Les Bijoux Indiscrets. Or, The Indiscreet Toys (1749), vol.1 only. [Bavarian State Library copy]

The Harlot's Progress: Being the Life of the Noted Moll Hackabout. In Six Hudibrastick Canto's, 6th ed. (1753).

A New Atalantis, for the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty (1760) [pdf file of text]

John Henry Meibomius, The Use of Flogging in Venereal Affairs (1761; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]
John Henry Meibomius, The Use of Flogging in Venereal Affairs (1761; rpt. 1872) [New York Public Library copy]

John Wilkes, An Essay on Woman (1772; ca. 1763). ¶ two copies bound together; the first is a spurious edition, printed in red; the second is genuine, and the earliest known.

Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1765)
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1783)
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1786)
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1787) [Bavarian State Library; Wellcome Library]
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1788) [Project Gutenberg ebook]
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1789)
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1793) [transcript]
Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies (1794)

The Gentleman's Bottle-Companion (1768)

The Pleasures of a Single Life; Or, The Miseries of Matrimony ([1770?])

The Covent-Garden magazine; or, Amorous repository, vol.1 (1772), vol.2 (1773), vol.3 (1774), vol.4 (1775)

Ranger’s Impartial List of the Ladies of Pleasure in Edinburgh (1775) [transcript]

The Frisky Songster (1776)

Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 1 (1779)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 2 (1779)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 3 (1779)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 4 (1780)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 5 (1780)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 6 (1780)
Trials for Adultery, or, The History of Divorces, vol. 7 (1780)

"Ned Ward Junior", The Comforts of Matrimony; or Love's Last Shift (1780)

The new Covent-Garden Register; being Secret Memoirs of some celebrated Ladies of P******e of the present Time ([1783])

Madame Birchini's Dance (1783; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]

Exhibition of Female Flagellants, part 1. (1784; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]
Exhibition of Female Flagellants, part 2. (1785; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]

The Nightly Sports Of Venus; Or, The Pleasures of Coition. With The Humourous Tale Of The Three Monks ([1785?])

Lady Bumtickler's Revels (1786; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]

Sublime of Flagellation (1787; rpt. 1872) [University of Toronto copy; temporarily(?) unavailable]

Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, [1st ed.] (1785)
Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd ed. (1788)
Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 3rd ed. (1796)

The Festival of Love; Or, A Collection Of Cytherean Poems, 3rd ed. ([1791])
The Festival of Love; Or, A Collection Of Cytherean Poems, 4th ed. ([1793])

Robert Burns, Merry Muses of Caledonia (1799; rpt. 1965)

[UPDATED 4 February 2018]

Monday, 27 July 2009

A More (or Less) Ordinary Book

In a review of Books on the Move (2007) that I wrote recently for Script & Print, I criticised David Pearson's essay "What Can We Learn by Tracking Multiple Copies of Individual Editions?" for failing to select an "ordinary book" to track, as he had proposed.

While the three English translations of Ceasar from 1590, 1655 and 1695 that Pearson selected are "more ordinary" than William Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio or Nicolaus Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus Orbium Cælestium (1543 and 1566), they still do not seem really ordinary in any useful sense of the word to me.

We can rarely identify the owners of genuinely “ordinary” books and, on the few occasions when we do have the names of previous owners, we are very often unable to find out anything at all about these individuals. So Pearson’s essay also ends up focused on the few well-known or famous owners of the not-so-ordinary books he selected.

If one were to choose a book that was genuinely "ordinary," an eighteenth-century edition of The Spectator (1711–12) for instance, it would be even more difficult to identify previous owners, or, having done so, be in a position to say anything useful about them (singularly, or as a group).

This is, of course, exactly why book historians find it so hard to say anything about ordinary readers of ordinary books and why scholars such as Pearson are trying so hard to find a way of redressing this.

Anyway, shortly after writing about this problem in my review, an odd-volume of The Female Spectator turned up on eBay. I bought it because this particular odd-volume seems destined to provide me with the perfect example of what a more ordinary book can tell us about “the range of people” who owned certain books, what the “ownership trajectories” of the multiple copies of these books might be, what “geographical range” of distribution and what variety of bindings might be evident, and whether there are characteristic “patterns of annotation” in the books. (The questions Pearson hoped to answer.)


As you can see, if you look closely, this particular odd-volume was purchased, when new, by one Thomas Spedding. As one of the few people on the planet who own a copy of The Spedding Family (1909) by Capt. John Carlisle D. Spedding, I was immediately able to identify this "Thos Spedding" who, in typical eighteenth-century style, signed his name across the title-page. It is the Rev. Thomas Spedding, MA (1722–87): a distant relation (but not an ancestor).


This identification was enough to persuade me to spend over $300, probably triple what the book is worth. Because, as both a Spedding (with a modest interest in family history, but with a father who has just completed a substantial family-history) and an Eliza Haywood scholar who has published an essay on the popularity of Haywood's Female Spectator,* I seem particularly well-placed to both unravel the genealogical history of the book and comment on its bibliographical significance.

Since this odd-volume arrived I have made considerable more progress with the identification of the various owners of this copy, but my comments on these owners, the book, other copies, etc etc, will have to wait for another post. Or possibly an essay. We'll see.

*The essay is “Measuring the Success of Haywood's Female Spectator (1744–46),” in Fair Philosopher: Eliza Haywood and The Female Spectator (2006), 193–211 (most of which is available on Google Books Preview here).

[UPDATE 22 Feb 2011: for Part 2 of this series of posts see here]

[UPDATE: 2 July 2016: After all my pictures disappeared (again) I decided to give up on external hosts for large versions (1000px) of my image files and, for now on, will stick with the smaller images (500px), which Blogger is prepared to host.]

Thursday, 23 July 2009

Eliza Haywood Links

[Detail of the portrait of Haywood by James Parmentier,
which was engraved by George Vertue]

[For links to recent scholarship available free online, see here; for informal criticism, blogs etc. (pre-2012), see here. For material specifically related to Haywood's life, contemporary biographical accounts etc., see here. For items published by Haywood at the Sign of Fame, see here. For works falsely attributed to Haywood, see here. For William Hatchett links see here.]

Facsimile Texts and Downloadable pdfs

Below are links to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century editions of works by Eliza Haywood (the item numbers are from my Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004)) that are on Google Books [GB], The Internet Archive [IA], etc. Only a few new items are now being digitised each year, but I continue to add these items as I find them.

Ab.1.4b Love in Excess, 4th ed. (1722) [IA: Boston Public Library copy]

Ab.2 Letters from a Lady of Quality to a Chevalier (1721), split over two URLs here and here [British Library copy] NEW

Ab.4.1b The British Recluse, 2nd. ed. (1722) [British Library copy]

Ab.6.1a Idalia [Part 1] (1723) [British Library copy]

Ab.6.2A Idalia, trs. into Dutch as Idalie, of De ongelukkige minnares (1803) [National Library of the Netherlands copy] ¶ Not recorded in my Bibliography.

Ab.6.3 Idalia, trs. into French as Idalie, ou l’Amante Infortunée [Part 1] (1770) [Austrian National Library copy]
Ab.6.3 Idalia, trs. into French as Idalie, ou l’Amante Infortunée [Part 2] (1770) [Austrian National Library copy]
Ab.6.3 Idalia, trs. into French as Idalie, ou l’Amante Infortunée [Part 3] (1770) [Austrian National Library copy]

Ab.7.1a A Wife to be Lett [1st ed.] (1724) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.7.2a A Wife to be Lett [2nd ed., 1st iss.] (1729) [Rice University copy]
Ab.7.2b A Wife to be Lett [2nd ed., 2nd iss.] (1735) [British Library copy]
Ab.7.3 A Wife to be Lett [3rd ed.] (1735) [British Library copy]
Ab.7.4 A Wife to be Lett (1757) [British Library copy]

Ab.8.1b Lasselia, 2nd ed. (1724) [British Library copy]

Ab.9.1b Rash Resolve, 2nd ed. (1724) [British Library copy]

Ab.9.2 Rash Resolve, trs. into French as Emanuella (An. 9 [1801]) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.10.1 Poems on Several Occasions [1st ed.] (1724) [British Library copy; missing first page]

Ab.11.1d A Spy on the Conjurer (1725) [Gallaudet University copy]
Ab.11.1d A Spy on the Conjurer (1725) [British Library copy]

Ab.16.1a La Belle Assemblée, Part 1 [of vol.1] (1724) [British Library copy]
Ab.16.2a La Belle Assemblée, Part 2 [of vol.1] (1725) [British Library copy]
Ab.16.3a La Belle Assemblée, Part 3 [of vol.1] (1725) [British Library copy]

Ab.16.6 La Belle Assemblée, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (Dublin, 1731) [British Library copy]

Ab.16.10a0 La Belle Assemblée, vol. 3 (Dublin, 1731) [British Library copy] ¶ Not recorded in my Bibliography.

Ab.16.10b La Belle Assemblée, 4th ed., vol. 3 (Dublin, 1758) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.16.17 La Belle Assemblée, 5th ed., vol. 1 (1743) [British Library copy] NEW
Ab.16.17 La Belle Assemblée, 5th ed., vol. 2 (1743) [Princeton University copy]
Ab.16.17 La Belle Assemblée, 5th ed., vol. 3 (1743) [Princeton University copy]
Ab.16.17 La Belle Assemblée, 5th ed., vol. 4 (1743) [British Library copy] NEW

Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 1 (1749) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 1 (1749) [British Library copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 2 (1749) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 2 (1749) [British Library copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 3 (1749) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 3 (1749) [British Library copy]
Ab.16.18 La Belle Assemblée, 6th ed., vol. 4 (1749) [British Library copy]

Ab.17.1 Memoirs of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, vol. 1, [1st ed (1726) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.17.3 Memoirs of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (1726) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.17.3 Memoirs of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (1726) [Ohio State University copy]
Ab.17.4 Memoirs of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, vol. 2 (1726) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.17.4 Memoirs of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, vol. 2 (1726) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.18.1a Bath-Intrigues; in four letters to a friend in London, 1st ed. (1725) [British Library copy] NEW
Ab.18.2 Bath-Intrigues; in four letters to a friend in London, 3rd ed. (1725) [British Library copy]

Ab.22.1 The Tea-Table [Part 1] (1725) [British Library copy]

Ab.25.1b Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots , 2nd ed. (1726) [British Library copy]

Ab.28.1a The Mercenary Lover (1726) [British Library copy]

Ab.29.1b Reflections on the Various Effects of Love [Part 1], 2nd. ed. (1726) [British Library copy]

Ab.31.2 The City Jilt ([ca.1764]) [British Library copy]

Ab.33.1b The Secret History of … the Court of Caramania (1727) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.33.1b The Secret History of … the Court of Caramania (1727) [British Library copy]

Ab.35.3 Cleomelia trs. into French in Mélange de Différentes Pièces de Vers et de Prose, vol. 1 (1751) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.36.6 The Fruitless Enquiry, vol. 2, from p. 159 [abridged by Elizabeth Griffith] (1777) [University of California copy]
Ab.36.6 The Fruitless Enquiry, vol. 2, from p. 159 [abridged by Elizabeth Griffith] (1777) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.37.1 The Life of Madam de Villesache (1727) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.38.1 Love in its Variety: Being a Collection of Select Novels. Written in Spanish by Signior Michel Bandello (1727) [University of Toronto copy]

Ab.41.1 The Agreeable Caledonian [Part 1] (1728) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.41.2 The Agreeable Caledonian [Part 2] (1729) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.46.1b The Fair Hebrew, 2nd. ed. (1729) [British Library copy]

Ab.48.1 Love-Letters on all Occasions (1730) [British Library copy]
Ab.48.2 Love-Letters on all Occasions, trs. into French as Lettres traduites de l'anglais (1749) [British Library copy]

Ab.51.1a The Dramatic Historiographer; Or, The British Theatre Delineated (1735) [=vol. 1] [University of California copy, itself a reprint from microfilm!]

Ab.51.1c A Companion to the Theatre [vol. 1], 2nd ed. (1740) [British Library copy]
Ab.51.2 A Companion to the Theatre, vol. 2 (1747) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.51.3a A Companion to the Theatre (Dublin, 1751) [British Library copy] ¶ a partial reprint.

Ab.53.1a The Adventures of Eovaai, Princess of Ijaveo (1736) [British Library copy]
Ab.53.1b The Unfortunate Princess [new title for The Adventures of Eovaai] (1741) [British Library copy]

Ab.54.1a Anti-Pamela (1741) [British Library copy]

Ab.54.2 Anti-Pamela, trs. into Dutch as De Anti-Pamela (1743) [Columbia University copy] ¶ Not recorded in my Bibliography.

Ab.54.3 Anti-Pamela, trs. into French as L' Anti-Pamela (1741) [Halle University copy]
Ab.54.3 Anti-Pamela, trs. into French as L' Anti-Pamela (1741) [National Library of the Czech Republic]

Ab.56.3 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, vol.1 (1787) [British Library copy]
Ab.56.3 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, vol.2 ("1783" [=1787]) [British Library copy]
Ab.56.4 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, "eighteenth" ed., vol.1 (1801) [British Library copy] NEW
Ab.56.4 The Sopha: A Moral Tale, "eighteenth" ed., vol.2 (1801) [British Library copy] NEW

Ab.57.2 Memoirs of an Unfortunate Young Nobleman, vol.1 (1743) [Library of Catalonia copy]
Ab.57.2 Memoirs of an Unfortunate Young Nobleman, vol.1 (1743) [Indiana University copy]
Ab.57.11b Memoirs of an Unfortunate Young Nobleman, vol.2 (1743) [Ohio State University copy]

Ab.58.2 A Present for a Servant-Maid (1743) [Library of Congress copy]
Ab.58.4b A Present for a Servant-Maid (Dublin, 1743) [British Library copy]
Ab.58.5 A Present for a Servant-Maid (Dublin, 1744) [British Library copy]
Ab.58.9 A New Present for a Servant-Maid (1771) [British Library copy]

Ab.59.1a The Fortunate Foundlings [1st ed.] (1744) [British Library copy]
Ab.59.3 The Fortunate Foundlings, 3rd ed. (1748) [British Library copy]
Ab.59.4 The Fortunate Foundlings, 5th ed. (1761) [Ohio State University copy]

Ab.59.5 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, Part 1–2 (1754) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.59.6 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 1 (1775) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.59.6 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 3 (1775) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.59.7 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, Part 1–4 (1772) [Ghent University copy]

Ab.59.8 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 7 and 8 of 14 [Part 1–4] (1777) [University of Lausanne copy]

Ab.59.9 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 5 of 7 [Part 1–4] (1779) [Lyon Public Library copy]

Ab.59.11 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 4 of 11 [Part 1–4] (1779) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.59.11 The Fortunate Foundlings, trs. into French as Les Heureux Orphelins, vol. 4 of 11 [Part 1–4] (1779) [University of Michigan copy]

Ab.60.1 The Female Spectator [1st ed.], vol. 4 (1745) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.60.5 The Female Spectator, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (1748) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.5 The Female Spectator, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (1748) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.5 The Female Spectator, 2nd ed., vol. 3 (1748) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.5 The Female Spectator, 2nd ed., vol. 4 (1748) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]

Ab.60.7 The Female Spectator, 5th ed., vol. 1 (1755) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.60.7 The Female Spectator, 5th ed., vol. 2 (1755) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.60.7 The Female Spectator, 5th ed., vol. 3 (1755) [Bodleian copy]
Ab.60.7 The Female Spectator, 5th ed., vol. 4 (1755) [Bodleian copy]

Ab.60.9 The Female Spectator, 7th ed., vol. 1 (1771) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.60.9 The Female Spectator, 7th ed., vol. 2 (1771) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.60.9 The Female Spectator, 7th ed., vol. 3 (1771) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.60.9 The Female Spectator, 7th ed., vol. 4 (1771) [University of Michigan copy]

Ab.60.10a The Female Spectator, vol. 1 (1775) [British Library copy]
Ab.60.10a The Female Spectator, vol. 2 (1775) [British Library copy]
Ab.60.10a The Female Spectator, vol. 3 (1775) [British Library copy]
Ab.60.10a The Female Spectator, vol. 4 (1775) [British Library copy]

Ab.60.10b The Female Spectator, vol. 1 (1775) [University of California LA copy]

Ab.60.10A The Female Spectator, trs. into Dutch as De Engelsche spectatrice of Britsche leermeesteresse der zeeden, vol. 1 (1762), vol. 2 (1763), vol. 3 (1763). [University of Amsterdam copy] ¶ Not recorded in my Bibliography.

Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 1 (1750) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 1 (1750) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 2 (1750) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 2 (1750) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 3 (1750) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 3 (1750) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 4 (1751) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.60.11 The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 4 (1751) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.60.11A The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 2 (1750) [Austrian National Library copy]
Ab.60.11A The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 3 (1750) [Austrian National Library copy]
Ab.60.11A The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, vol. 4 (1751) [Austrian National Library copy]

Ab.60.11B The Female Spectator, trs. into French as La Spectatrice, New edition, vol. 1 (1750) [Austrian National Library copy] ¶ Not recorded in my Bibliography.

Ab.63.1 Life's Progress Through the Passions (1748) [Indiana University copy]

Ab.64.1 Epistles for the Ladies, vol.1 (1749) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.64.1 Epistles for the Ladies, vol.2 (1750) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.65.1 Dalinda (1749) [British Library copy]

Ab.66.1a A Letter from H— G—g(1750) [Bodleian Library]
Ab.66.1a A Letter from H— G—g (1750) [Queen's University Library]
Ab.66.2 A Letter from H— G—g (1750) [Bodleian Library]

Ab.66.3 A Letter from H— G—g (1750), trs. into French as Lettre de H— G—g (1756) [Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de santé copy]. ¶ Not fully described in my Bibliography.

Ab.67.1 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless [1st ed.], vol. 1 (1751) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.1 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless [1st ed.], vol. 2 (1751) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.1 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless [1st ed.], vol. 3 (1751) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.67.4 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, vol. 1 [2nd Dublin ed.] (1752) [Duke University copy]
Ab.67.4 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, vol. 2 [2nd Dublin ed.] (1752) [Duke University copy]

Ab.67.5 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 3rd ed., vol. 1 (1762) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.5 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 3rd ed., vol. 2 (1762) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.5 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 3rd ed., vol. 3 (1762) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.5 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 3rd ed., vol. 4 (1762) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 1 (1768) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 1 (1768) [British Library copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 2 (1768) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 2 (1768) [British Library copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 3 (1768) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 3 (1768) [British Library copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 4 (1768) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.67.7 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4th ed., vol. 4 (1768) [British Library copy]

Ab.67.9 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1783) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.67.9 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1783) [Princeton University Library copy]

Ab.67.10 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into Dutch as De Onbedachte Juffer, vol. 1 (1756) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]
Ab.67.10 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into Dutch as De Onbedachte Juffer, vol. 2 (1756) [National Library of the Netherlands copy]

Ab.67.11 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 1 (1754) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.67.11 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 2 (1754) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.67.11 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 3 (1754) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.67.11 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 4 (1754) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.67.13 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 1 (1755) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.67.13 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless, vol. 2 (1755) [Bavarian State Library copy]
Ab.54.3 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into French as L'Etourdie, Ou Histoire De Mis Betsy Tatless (1755), vols.1–4. [Halle University copy]

Ab.67.17 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into German as Geschichte des Fräuleins Elisabeth Thoughtless , vol. 1–4 (1754) [Berlin State Library copy]

Ab.67.19 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, trs. into Swedish as Den obetänksamma sjelfkloka: eller Fröken Betsy Thoughtless historia, vol. 1–4 (1772) [British Library copy]

Ab.68.1 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy [1st ed.], vol. 1 (1753) [Oxford University copy]
Ab.68.1 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy [1st ed.], vol. 1 (1753) [Duke University copy]
Ab.68.1 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy [1st ed.], vol. 2 (1753) [Duke University copy]
Ab.68.1 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy [1st ed.], vol. 3 (1753) [Duke University copy]

Ab.68.4 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, vol. 1 (1769) [British Library copy]
Ab.68.4 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, vol. 2 (1769) [British Library copy]

Ab.68.6 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, vol. 1 (1785) [Princeton University Library copy]
Ab.68.6 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, vol. 2 (1785) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.68.6 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, vol. 3 (1785) [Oxford University Library copy]

Ab.68.7 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, trs. into French as Jemmy et Sophie, vol. 1 (1797) [Bavarian State Library copy, on Google Books]
Ab.68.7 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, trs. into French as Jemmy et Sophie, vol. 2 (1797) [Bavarian State Library copy, on Google Books]
Ab.68.7 The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy, trs. into French as Jemmy et Sophie, vol. 2 (1797) [Bavarian State Library copy, hosted by the Bavarian State Library]

Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 1 (1755) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 1 (1755) [University of California LA copy]
Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 2 (1755) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 3 (1755) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 3 (1755) [University of California LA copy]
Ab.69.1 The Invisible Spy, vol. 4 (1755) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.69.6 The Invisible Spy, New ed., vol. 1 (1773) [Oxford University Library copy]
Ab.69.6 The Invisible Spy, New ed., vol. 1 (1773) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.69.6 The Invisible Spy, New ed., vol. 2 (1773) [Oxford University Library copy]
Ab.69.6 The Invisible Spy, New ed., vol. 2 (1773) [New York Public Library copy]

Ab.69.7 The Invisible Spy (1788) [New York Public Library copy]
Ab.69.7 The Invisible Spy (1788) [Princeton University Library copy]
Ab.69.7 The Invisible Spy (1788) [University of Toronto Library copy]

Ab.69.9 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1791) [Harvard University Library copy]
Ab.69.9 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1791) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.69.9 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1791) [National Library of the Czech Republic]

Ab.69.9 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 2 (1794) [Harvard University copy]
Ab.69.9 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 2 (1794) [National Library of the Czech Republic]

Ab.69.10 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 2 (1795) [Bavarian State Library copy]

Ab.69.13 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1814) [Harvard University copy]
Ab.69.13 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1814) [University of Michigan copy]
Ab.69.13 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 1 (1814) [Austrian National Library copy]

Ab.69.13 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 2 (1814) [Harvard University copy]
Ab.69.13 The Invisible Spy, trs. into German as Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter, vol. 2 (1814) [University of Michigan copy]

Ab.70.1 The Wife (1756) [British Library copy]
Ab.70.4 The Wife, 3rd ed. (1773) [Indiana University copy]
Ab.70.6 The Young Bride [Bowdlerised rpt. of The Wife] (Boston 1836) [British Library copy, Harvard University copy]

Ac.6 [a reprint of Ab.22 Tea-Table, pt.1, pp.13–14, in Alexander Dyce, Specimens of British Poetesses (London: T. Rood, 1827), pp.186–87].

Ac.6A [a reprint of Ab.35.3 Cleomelia (trs. into French as Cléomélie, 1751), in [Marie-Antoinette Fagnan], Lectures Serieuses et Amusantes (Genève: Antoine Philibert, 1753), pp.182–306].

Eb.49–D.3 Tom Thumb, Altered by Kane O'Hara (1805)
Eb.49–D.8 Tom Thumb (1811) [University of California copy]
Eb.49–D.8 Tom Thumb (1811) [Oxford University copy]
Eb.49–D.19 Tom Thumb: A Farce (1829)
Eb.49–D.23 Tom Thumb; A Burletta (1832)
Eb49–D.28 Tom Thumb the Great. A Burlesque tragedy in two acts (1850)

Ec.57.13a The Case of the Honourable James Annesley, Esq (1745) [British Library copy]

Ed.59.12a The Happy Orphans, vol.1 (1759) [John Carter Brown Library copy]
Ed.59.12a The Happy Orphans, vol.2 (1759) [John Carter Brown Library copy]

Ed.59.13 The Happy Orphans (Dublin 1759) [British Library copy]
Ed.59.16a Edwin and Lucy (1820) [British Library copy]


Electronic Texts

You can download the raw OCR of some of the above as etext, but below are links to edited versions of works by Eliza Haywood (again, the numbering is my own).

Ab.4 The British Recluse (1722). Edited by Alok Yadav (PDF file).
Ab.4 The British Recluse (1722). Edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom.

Ab.6 Idalia; Or, The Unfortunate Mistress (1723). Edited by Laura June Dziuban and Mary Mark Ockerbloom.

Ab.13 The Fatal Secret; Or, Constancy in Distress (1724). Edited by Laura June Dziuban and Mary Mark Ockerbloom.

Ab.26 Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze (1725). Edited by Jack Lynch.
Ab.26 Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze (1725). Edited by Laura Dziuban and Mary Mark Ockerbloom.
Ab.26 Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze (1725). Edited by Alok Yadav (PDF file).

Ab.33 The Opera of Operas; or, Tom Thumb the Great (1733). Edited by Susan Bauer.

Ab.54 Anti-Pamela (1741). Wikisource.
Ab.54 Anti-Pamela (1741). Edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom.

Ab.59 The Fortunate Foundlings (1744). Edited by Jonathan Ingram and Sheila Vogtmann et al.

Ab.63 Life's Progress Through The Passions (1748). Edited by Jonathan Ingram and Richard Cohen et al.

Of course, a great many more texts are available on CD-Rom and databases that many institutions subscribe to. I listed these in my Bibliography in section Bi

Bi.1 Literature Online (LION) contains: Aa.3 Secret Histories, Novels and Poems [includes: Ab.1 Love in Excess, Ab.4 The British Recluse, Ab.5 The Injur’d Husband, Ab.10 Poems on Several Occasions, Ab.6 Idalia, Ab.14 The Surprize, Ab.13 The Fatal Secret, Ab.26 Fantomina , Ab.9 The Rash Resolve, Ab.12 The Masqueraders, pt.1, Ab.8 Lasselia, Ab.27 The Force of Nature], Ab.3 The Fair Captive, Ab.7 A Wife to be Lett, Ab.47 Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburgh and Ab.49 The Opera of Operas, Ab.54 Anti-Pamela, Ab.59 The Fortunate Foundlings, Ab.67 The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and Ab.68 The History of Jemmy and Jenny Jessamy.

Bi.2 The Brown University Women Writers Project contains: Ab.18 Bath-Intrigues, Ab.46. The Fair Hebrew; Ab.53 Adventures of Eovaai; Ab.60 The Female Spectator (v.1–3 only).

[last updated 26 March 2022]

Tuesday, 21 July 2009

Haywood Bibliography, Addenda and Corrigenda

I have been planning a second edition of my Bibliography of Eliza Haywood ever since the first edition went to press in 2004.

To that end I have converted the WriteNow 2.0 files (which I used to produce the page-proofs) to WriteNow 3.0, which I then saved as RTF files and opened and saved in Word 2004 for Mac—with all the endless reformatting that this requires. Having converted over three thousand working files from WriteNow 2.0 to Word 2004, I will get to update all of these Word 2004 files to Word 2008 next year. Oh the inexpressible joy of technology!

Anyway, I have also been continuously updating entries, as I encounter new information, correcting errors in existing entries, when I have been able to identify them, and adding new entries when new editions and issues come to light. More often than not, these corrections and additions have been identified when I have bought a copy of the book concerned.

I have decided to start publishing these Addenda here, for the moment. (I have an appropriate domain for them, but creating a web site from scratch will have to wait.) I will publish each entry separately, indexing them below, and provide each with a version number. Since these addenda will form the basis of my planned second edition, they should be considered second edition entries. So, if anyone wishes to cite them you should do so in the form

Patrick Spedding, A Bibliography of Eliza Haywood, 2nd. ed. (2009), Ab.60.11A [ver. 09.01], accessed 21 July 2009.

A Bibliography of Eliza Haywood, 2nd. ed.

Ab.35.3 [ver. 09.01]
Ab.44.1aA [ver. 11.01]
Ab.60.11A [ver. 09.01]
Ab.70.5a–c [ver. 09.01]
Ca.9 Ermangrade [ver. 10.01]
Ed.59.12a–17 (Appendix D) [ver. 10.01]

[Last updated 25 October 2011]

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

The Other Betsy Thoughtless

Many Haywood scholars will be unaware that there is a epistolary "novel" by the name Betsy Thoughtless that was first published sometime between 1808 and 1810, and re-published ca. 1820, ca. 1830, ca. 1860, 1898, 1900, 1917, 1968, 1987 and 1999. These scholars will also be unaware that this novel is cited in Henry Spencer Ashbee's Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1877), 397–401, and has been mentioned periodically in literary scholarship for decades: it is in Ronald Pearsall's The Worm in the Bud: The World of Victorian Sexuality (1969), 372, and Black Angels: The Forms and Faces of Victorian Cruelty‎ (1975), 258, and it is in Edward J. Bristow's Vice and Vigilance: Purity Movements in Britain Since 1700 (1977), 46.

I discovered the 1968 reprint of this Betsy Thoughtless a while ago when I was searching for copies of Haywood's The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and immediately purchased a copy. So, you may be wondering—like me—whether this story bears any relation to Haywood's Betsy Thoughtless. In a word, no. Ashbee characterises the novel thus:

Betsy recounts how she lost her maidenhead, and that she applied the rod to her cousin-lover at his own request. [The publisher] designates it in his catalogue as: "a most spicey and piquant Narrative of a Young Girl obliged to excoriate her Sweetheart's bum, before he could ravish her Maidenhead."

None of the modern authorities do any more than quote this snippet from Ashbee, whose entry fills six pages (quoted at length, below). The Erotica Bibliophile (here) provides bibliographical details, but these are also taken from Ashbee, adding only a reference from: Peter Mendes, Clandestine Erotic Fiction in English, 1800-1930: A Bibliographic Study (Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1993), 118-A. Mendes locates copies of the 1917 edition, which is not uncommon (copies are available online from ca. A$170.00), but I can't find copies of the earlier editions. The 1968 Grove Press reprint that I bought is very widely available for under A$10.00.



As, seemingly, the only person to read this particular Betsy Thoughtless in many decades, I thought I should say something other than "spicey," "piquant" and "excoriate" (excellent as these words are). The story proper is contained in a letter, which has a brief introduction, as follows.

I became acquainted with this lovely girl during my visit to Cheltenham. She is the daughter of a rich commoner in the West of England, and we soon formed an intimacy of the sweetest and most agreeable kind. She was in her eighteenth year, with a form and face seldom equalled: her hair was of a lively brown, her skin perfectly white, and her face full of ardour and beauty. I discovered her secrets very soon after my introduction, by the recital of a warm and very libidinous story, which I read in the French, and which I pretended to have witnessed. This won her confidence, and she confessed that she been seduced by a young gentlemen, a protégé of her father’s.

I lent the beautiful creature some luscious prints, tastefully executed, and which made her almost mad, as she had never seen anything of the kind before. In return for the these, which I afterwards gave her, she promised me, in writing, and memoir of the circumstances and causes of her seduction, and I cannot do better than give it in her own words:

To Miss Wilson.

     My Dear friend,

     ’Tis well thet I am alone, for I blush to the ears in making a confession, even to you, of the wanton and naughty scenes which led to the first indulgence of my passions;—passions the most ardent and glowing; but which, I am happy to say, have met with a corresponding feeling in those of my lover;—but to my tale.


This letter is signed and dated:

I remain, my dear friend,
     Yours very faithfully,
          Elizabeth Thoughtless.
               March, 1839.


Since this post is already getting rather long, the contents of Elizabeth Thoughtless's letter to Miss Wilson will have to wait for another time, along with a discussion of the 1788 edition of Venus School Mistress. But before I finish, here are the relevant bits out of Ashbee's entry on Venus School Mistress.

* * * * *

Ashbee, Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1877), 397–99, 401:

Venus School Mistress; or, Birchen Sports. By R. Birch, Translator of Manon's Memoirs. Printed for Philosemus. Embellished with a Beautiful Print. Price 10s. 6d. 8vo.; pp. 82; probable date 1808 to 1810; this I take to be the earliest edition; it has an "Address" in which reference is made to the success of "Manon la Fouëtteuse," and contains the history of "Betty Thoughtless." There is another edition about 1820, "with 4 coloured plates, 8vo. 16/-." [fn. 1]

About 1830 Cannon reprinted the work, with title "Venus School Mistress; or Birchen Sports. Reprinted from the Edition of 1788,[fn.2] with a Preface, by Mary Wilson, containing some Account of the late Mrs. Berkley. London: Printed by John Ludbury, No. 256, High Holborn.," and a second title page thus: Aphrodite Flagellatrix: Sive Ludi Betulani. De gustibus non est disputandum. Romæ: Apud Plagosum Orbilium, In Viam Flagrorum, Sub Signo Flagelli. 1790." Large 12mo.; pp. xi and 58; on the first title page is a hand brandishing a rod, and on the second a Roman lamp; 5 or 6 folding coloured plates, pretty well done, and a frontispiece (not folding) representing "The Berkley Horse." [fn. 3]

W. Dugdale issued an edition about 1860, with titles as above, except that on the English title page the printer's name is replaced by "Printed for the Booksellers," and there is a fleuron of the Royal Arms. 8vo. ; pp. 61 ; 8 coloured plates, badly done, and not copied from those of Cannon's edition;
Price Two Guineas. In both these editions the original "Address" is omitted, and a "Preface," as mentioned on their title pages, added; both contain "Betty Thoughtless."

"Venus School Mistress," a worthless, badly written book, contains the experiences of "Miss R. Birch," daughter of a woman who kept a day school, and who never let pass an opportunity to flog her pupils. Miss Birch acquires a great taste for, and aptitude in laying on the rod, and eventually takes a school herself together with a friend. "We now (she concludes) live together, and whip like two little devils, both young folks and old ones." The adventures all turn on flagellation and are generally dull.

The tale of "Betsy Thoughtless" is insignificant. Betsy recounts how she lost her maidenhead, and that she applied the rod to her cousin-lover at his own request. Dugdale designates it in his catalogue as: "a most spicey and piquant Narrative of a Young Girl obliged to excoriate her Sweetheart's bum, before he could ravish her Maidenhead."

In the Preface to Cannon's edition the topic is treated seriously. We are there told: "The subject of Flagellation, in venereal affairs […]" The remainder of the preface, as notified on the title page, contains an account of Mrs. Berkley and her establishment, which I have already quoted in my introduction.

[1] Publisher's Catalogue of the time.
[2] This date appears to be fictitious. "Venus School Mistress " was issued after "Manon la fouëtteuse" to which reference is made in the "Address," (vide supra), and "Manon" could not have been originally published before 1805.
[3] Reproduced at p. xliv, ante.


[UPDATE: 2 July 2016: After all my pictures disappeared (again) I decided to give up on external hosts for large versions (1000px) of my image files and, for now on, will stick with the smaller images (500px), which Blogger is prepared to host.]

Monday, 6 July 2009

Liberty of the Press, or Death!


This revolutionary periodical is from the amazing collection of Prof. Wallace Kirsop in Melbourne. I liked the imprint so much I asked, and was given permission, to reproduce it here.

The periodical, by Louis-Marie Prudhomme, is Revolutions de Paris, Dediees a la Nation (9 to 16 March 1793). The imprint translates as "Liberty of the Press, or Death!" I just love the hieroglyphic death's head.


[UPDATE: 2 July 2016: After all my pictures disappeared (again) I decided to give up on external hosts for large versions (1000px) of my image files and, for now on, will stick with the smaller images (500px), which Blogger is prepared to host.]

Saturday, 4 July 2009

Censorship in Australian Libraries

Last night I read Clair Williams and Ken Dillon's Brought to Book: Censorship & School Libraries in Australia (1993). I was particularly interested in the chapter on "Censorship and the Philosophy of Librarianship," thinking it might make a nice counterpoint to the pieces I have been reading from the early 20th century on bad, improper, poisonous, pernicious and beastly books (see here). Unexpectedly, while I find the earnest rantings of Canon Rawnsley et al. rather amusing, I found Williams and Dillon very annoying indeed.

Williams and Dillon contrast the "liberal tradition" (and intellectual freedom) with the tradition of "social responsibility," favouring the latter. In fact they state that "absolute intellectual freedom is both undesirable and unattainable" (43), cautioning that some "naive" and "problematic" philosophical pronouncements "define intellectual freedom in terms that suggest not liberalism but libertarianism" (51). Although they recognise that "notions of intellectual freedom and free speech do not readily permit of half-measures" they, nevertheless, recommend half-measures, stating that "Absolute intellectual freedom … should obviously be rejected on moral and practical grounds."

Well, it isn't obvious to me why intellectual freedom is "naive," "problematic," and "should obviously be rejected." And Williams and Dillon are not that keen on enlightening any libertarian who doesn't agree with them on philosophical and moral grounds.

They offer only one practical difficulty: life may get difficult for a librarian committed to intellectual freedom: "Financial support may be withdrawn, jobs may be jeopardised or lost …" Sensing, perhaps, how pathetic this sounds, Williams and Dillon quickly move on to the main objection:

Advocates of absolute intellectual freedom tend to favour the demand theory of librarianship rather than the value theory. The demand theory says that the librarian should simply provide material that is demanded (what the user wants) while the value theory dictates that the librarian should provide material of value (what the user needs).

The strongest criticism of the demand theory that Williams and Dillon can muster is that "it can seem to reduce the librarian to a mere functionary dispensing commodities." Yes, that is it. Ego. It would hurt the feelings of librarians to recognise that they could be replaced "by junior administrative assistants." Far better than this, it seems, is to foster a system in which one group of people (librarians) decides what another group (every other human being, not a librarian) "needs." Failure to accept this manifest destiny of librarians is "self-effacement of the most paralysing kind" (53).

Personally, I am not happy handing over the choice of what I "need" to an un-elected group whose strongest motives are ego and sloth: namely, (1) maintaining their own sense of self-importance and (2) the desire to avoid being inconvenienced. Nor do I trust the "social responsibility" model that justifies librarians—who are prone to "elitist, middle-class ideas of literary value"—in deciding which "attitudes and ideas are positive and socially beneficial," so as "to promote social change." As Williams and Dillon explain: "the value theory of librarianship is favoured by … literary elitists; those who wish to censor material … because of their sexual, religious and political content; and those who have a commitment to social responsibility" (the latter being criticised as "left wing authoritarianism or social engineering")

As one of those pesky libertarians who favours a laissez faire approach I recognise that my right to free speech depends on the right of everyone else to free speech, including those whose opinions I most strongly disagree with or consider "anti-social." Williams and Dillon can't bring themselves to expand on this, though it is central to their rejection of "an indiscriminate openness," but they mention racist, sexist and fascist, material. In other words, the presence of Fanny Hill in a library is contingent on the presence on the same library of The Turner Diaries. For me, this is a price worth paying.

(Curiously, what they don't mention are the only two "practical" grounds I can see for limiting the scope of library collections: budgetary and legal restraints. But they are subjects for another day.)

Williams and Dillon conclude their chapter with the following statement: "even vocal defenders of intellectual freedom often happily accept the denial of such freedom to minors and find this contradiction unworthy of comment" (55). You might expect Williams and Dillon to elaborate on this question, in a book on "School Libraries in Australia," in a section titled "Children's rights," following such a criticism, but you'd be disappointed. They don't.