Libertine London

Judging by the satirical cartoons Georgian England was one never-ending sexual playground . . . This fascinating book . . . reveals another, darker, side to this erotic Eden. * Mail on Sunday *
Libertine London is the story of sex in the capital from the Restoration to Jane Austen’s time . . . The material is fascinating, if grotesque. -- Tanya Gold * 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. * The Independent, ‘Books of the Month’ *
Peakman knows her stuff – she has written extensively on sexuality and pornography in 18th-century Britain – and Libertine London is a fascinating study of the price of sexual freedom in a society that held men and women to different moral standards. * The Idler *
Today’s woman is sometimes frustrated by lack of parity – in wages or opportunity. ln Libertine London, Julie Peakman, an authority on 18th-century sex, makes these irritations pale beside the life-threatening horrors women endured . . . Peakman’s book abounds in stories. * The Oldie *
It seems eighteenth-century Londoners were a particularly prurient lot. This monograph explores the libertine world that they inhabited in its myriad permutations. It draws on a rich and wide array of primary sources, such as court records, pamphlets, plays, satires, print engravings, poems, songs, and personal correspondence to paint a very vivid picture of what sex outside of marriage looked like during the long eighteenth century, c. 1680–1830 . . . This book provides a superb general overview of the topic . . . Recommended. * Choice *
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 Julie Peakman's frank and enticing study. * Penelope J. Corfield, Emeritus Professor, Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of The Georgians: The Deeds and Misdeeds of 18th-Century Britain *