ABOUT THIS BOOK

An eye-opening and richly detailed history of women’s sexuality that upends entrenched perceptions of the long eighteenth century.

Libertine London investigates the sex lives of women throughout the period 1680 to 1830, known as the long eighteenth century. The book uncovers the various experiences of women, whether as mistresses, adultresses, or as participants in the sex trade. From renowned courtesans to downtrodden streetwalkers, it examines the multifaceted lives of these women within brothels, on stage, and even behind bars. Based on new research in court transcripts, asylum records, magazines, pamphlets, satires, songs, theater plays, and erotica, Libertine London reveals the gruesome treatment of women who were sexually active outside of marriage. Julie Peakman looks at sex from women’s points of view, undercutting the traditional image of the bawdy eighteenth century to expose a more sordid side, which often left women distressed, ostracized, and vilified for their sexual behavior.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Julie Peakman is a historian and author of many books on the history of sexuality, including The Pleasure’s All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex, also published by Reaktion Books, and Amatory Pleasures: Explorations in Eighteenth-Century Sexual Cultures. She lives in London.

REVIEWS

"A wide-ranging and richly illustrated guide to the fascinating sexual cultures of eighteenth-century London."

— Fara Dabhoiwala, author of "The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution"

"The Georgians did not invent sex but they were the first to explore publicly all its permutations. To discover more, read Peakman's frank and enticing study."

— Penelope J. Corfield, emeritus professor, London University, and author of "The Georgians: The Deeds and Misdeeds of 18th-Century Britain"

"Libertine London is the story of sex in the capital from the Restoration to Jane Austen’s time. . . . The material is fascinating, if grotesque."

— Daily Telegraph

"It seems that eighteenth-century brothel owners had their own pre-Viagra cures for erectile dysfunction, aimed at men known as 'flogging cullies.' 'Flagellation was a fixation of the period. . . . The theory was a good flogging would increase the blood rush to the necessary parts,' notes historian Peakman in Libertine London: Sex in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis. This clear-eyed study of the sex lives of women from 1680 to 1830 also notes that diarist Samuel Pepys, a man whose name is usually spoken in reverent terms as a literary giant, was 'a known groper.' That revelation didn’t seem to make it into his own diaries."

— Independent

"The frequent unpleasantness of this era’s sexual life does not keep this from being a terribly intriguing book, and it’s hard to put down. . . . The wide-ranging Libertine London uses research from court transcripts, asylum records, early journalism, pamphlets, songs, plays and pornography, and includes fifty color plates and fifty halftones from the period, which add to the book’s allure. . . . A fascinating, grotesque journey that will broaden your view of the days of wigs and knee breeches. It was a lot stickier than you imagined."

— Newcity

"With Libertine London: Sex in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis, Julie Peakman has given us an intimate portrayal of women’s sexual activity during the long eighteenth century, which ran from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to Waterloo in 1815. . . . a fine introduction to the social history of the period, which aims to look at that magnificent yet squalid era through the eyes of the sex hustlers of the time."

— Brazen Head

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue
1. Rambles through London
2. Street-Walkers
3. Brazen Bawds
4. Courtesans
5. Public Opinion: The Way with Whores
6. Stage Strumpets
7. Libertines and Their Fashions
8. Quacks, the Pox and the New Sexual Predators
9. Mad About the Boy
10. Rape on Trial
11. Seduction, Abduction and Adultery
12. Royal Mistresses

References
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.

It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.