A guide to Victorian London’s brothels and prostitutes looks set to be a vice little earner at auction.
The Man of Pleasure’s Illustrated Pocket-Book for 1850 aims to please men with “rebellious members”.
Disguised as a wallet, the book uses equestrian and seafaring references as a code to describe prostitutes, and also includes 50 sketches of women.
A Miss Murray, of Foley Place, is “a little frigate fit for a king to board”, while Miss Alice Grey is “frequently mounted a la militaire”.
Then there is Miss Fowler “who when stepping into a cab or coach, she makes the most of her leg”.
It continues: “She generally sets fire to all the male passengers, so that you see them fidgeting and adjusting their rebellious members the remainder of the journey.”
An unnamed woman found near Windmill Street is, the book declares, a “very desirable companion”.
It says: “Her conversation is pleasing, she drinks little, and swears seldom.”
The guide is set to fetch between £300 and £500 at auction in Wolseley Bridge, Staffs, on Thursday.
Hansons Auctioneers’ Jim Spencer said: “Early erotic publications are extremely sought after with collectors, nationally and internationally.
“Books like these were published and sold in secret at a time when they would have been regarded as obscene.”
