''The Mysteries of Verbena House, or, Miss Bellasis Birched for Thieving'' is a

pornographic 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 feelin ...

of flagellation erotica set in a girls' school, written under the pseudonym ''Etonensis'' by

George Augustus Sala George Augustus Henry Fairfield Sala (November 1828 – 8 December 1895) was an author and journalist who wrote extensively for the ''Illustrated London News'' as G. A. S. and was most famous for his articles and leaders for ''The Daily Telegra ...

and completed by

James Campbell Reddie James Campbell Reddie (26 November 1807 – 4 July 1878) was a 19th-century collector and author of pornography, who, writing as "James Campbell", worked for the publisher William Dugdale. According to Henry Spencer Ashbee, Reddie was self-taught ...

(co-author of ''

The Sins of the Cities of the Plain ''The Sins of the Cities of the Plain; or, The Recollections of a Mary-Ann, with Short Essays on Sodomy and Tribadism'', by the pseudonymous " Jack Saul", is one of the first exclusively homosexual works of pornographic literature published in E ...

''). It was published in 1882 in a limited edition of 150 copies at the price of 4 guineas.H. Montgomery Hyde (1964) ''A History of Pornography''; p. 150

Content

The book is set at Verbena House, an exclusive girls' school in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, and concerns the flogging of a schoolgirl called Miss Bellasis, who has stolen two gold coins from another pupil. Whilst searching for the missing coins through the pupils' desks, two other schoolgirls are found in possession of incriminating material: Miss Hazletine has hidden away a bottle of gin and Miss Hatherton has in her possession a pornographic book. The headmistress, Miss Sinclair, is at first reluctant to flog the girls for their misdemeanours but defers to the wisdom in these matters of the German and French teachers and of her spiritual advisor the Rev. Arthur Calvedon. The latter relates his experiences of flogging at Eton and wishes to witness the birching of Miss Bellasis. According to the Victorian pornographer

Henry Spencer Ashbee Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834 – 29 July 1900)(Walter) was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer. He is notable for his massive, clandestine three-volume bibliography of erotic literature published under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi ...

, it is this point that the hand of another author is detectable and the action becomes more explicit: "the castigation of Miss Bellasis is described at great, perhaps too great length" and the erstwhile maidenly headmistress who "was not by any means a flogging school-mistress" is transformed into "the lascivious lady of Verbena House".Henry Spencer Ashbee (1969) ''Index of Forbidden Books''. Sphere; p. 300 After the flogging the headmistress discovers she is greatly excited and makes love to the clergyman. The next day Miss Hazletine and Miss Hatherton are punished, first with a riding whip and then with a hair brush as the clergyman watches the proceedings though a spy-hole.Henry Spencer Ashbee (1969) ''Index of Forbidden Books''. Sphere; pp. 299-301 It is notable that much attention is lavished, in the book, on women's underwear, in which the author expresses great interest and which Ashbee hopes will have historical interest to future readers. In Ashbee's judgement the book (or the first part of it at least) is "acceptable, nay even entertaining" and "one of the best books of its kind".

References

* Henry Spencer Ashbee, ''Bibliography of Forbidden Books, Volume 3'', Cosimo, 2007, , pp. 261–264 * Walter M. Kendrick, ''The Secret Museum: pornography in modern culture'', University of California Press, 1996, , p. 77 *

Steven Marcus Steven Paul Marcus (December 13, 1928 – April 25, 2018) was an American academic and literary critic who published influential psychoanalytic analyses of the novels of Charles Dickens and Victorian pornography. He was George Delacorte Professo ...

, ''The Other Victorians: a study of sexuality and pornography in mid-nineteenth-century England'', Transaction Publishers, 2008, , p. 264 British erotic novels BDSM literature 1882 British novels Works published under a pseudonym Novels by James Campbell Reddie Novels set in Brighton Books about flagellation {{1880s-erotic-novel-stub

Content

See also

References