''Flossie, a Venus of Fifteen'' is an English
erotic novel
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feeli ...
, first published in 1897.
Synopsis
The novel recounts the adventures of an immature young person of distinct
cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...
type, who begins to fully satisfy her male admirers at a very early age, and manages to retain her physical
virginity
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
until the last few pages. According to the publisher
Charles Carrington
Charles Carrington (1857–1921) was a leading British publisher of erotica in late-19th- and early-20th-century Europe. Born ''Paul Harry Ferdinando'' in Bethnal Green, England on 11 November 1867, he moved in 1895 from London to Paris where h ...
, "The book has no other pretension than to be thoroughly
obscene
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...
".
[Carrington 1902, p. 140.]
Publication
Th first edition was printed at Amsterdam for the author in the latter half of the year 1897:
The first and limited edition was soon sold out, but it was immediately reprinted, "for the Erotica Biblion Society of London and New York", n.d. (Paris, 1898), small
12mo. of 122 pages, and there were two or three more re-issues by 1902.
The work is sometimes attributed to
Algernon Charles Swinburne.
Censorship
The book was published privately and anonymously with misleading notices: "Printed at Carnopolis" (1897), and "Printed for the Erotica Biblion Society Society of London and New York" (1898); no doubt to confuse the authorities, as such works were illegal and publishers and booksellers were prosecuted.
On 19 April 1933, London bookseller William Hamilton, charged with selling two obscene books described only as "absolute filth", was sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment in the second division and fined £100 and 10 guineas costs. The works in question, described by the Magistrate as the worst that could be imagined, were ''Flossie'' and ''
The Autobiography of a Flea
''The Autobiography of a Flea'' is an anonymous erotic novel first published in 1887 in London by Edward Avery. Later research has revealed that the author was a London lawyer of the time named Stanislas de Rhodes.
The story is narrated by a ...
''.
[Druce 1995, p. 222.]
See also
*
Obscene Publications Acts
*
Pornotopia
References
Sources
* Druce, Robert (1995)
"Pulex Defixus, or, the Spellbound Flea: An Excursion Into Porno-Gothic" In Tinkler-Villani, Valeria; Davidson, Peter; Stevenson, Jane (eds.).
Exhibited by Candlelight: Sources and Developments in the Gothic Tradition'. Brill. pp. 221–242. .
* Larsson, Mariah (2007)
"Drömmen om den goda pornografin. Om sextio-och sjuttiotalsfilmen och gränsen mellan konst och pornografi" ''Tidskrift för genusvetenskap'', no. 1–2. pp. 31–111.
* Thomas, Donald (1969). ''
A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England''. New York and Washington: Frederick A. Praeger. p. 284.
Attribution:
* Carrington, John
An Old Bibliophile"(1902).
Forbidden Books: Notes and Gossip on Tabooed Literature'. Paris: For the Author and his Friends. pp. 140–145.
Further reading
* Sigel, Lisa Z. (2000)
"Name Your Pleasure: The Transformation of Sexual Language in Nineteenth-Century British Pornography" ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'', 9(4). pp. 395–419.
*
Flossie, a Venus of Fifteen by One who knew this Charming Goddess and Worshipped at her Shrine'. Printed for the Erotica Biblion Society of London and New York.
930s reprint 96 pages.
"Flossie: A Venus of Fifteen (1897)" ''The Jack Horntip Collection''. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
{{1890s-novel-stub
1897 British novels
British erotic novels
Works published anonymously
Works by Algernon Charles Swinburne