Henry Spencer Ashbee seemed a prosperous and respectable Victorian gentleman. But his well-upholstered chambers in Gray's Inn concealed a shocking secret: a vast collection of erotica and pornography, thousands of volumes strong.
The Erotomaniac is a fascinating account of Victorian curiosity, repression and subverted desire. Acclaimed biographer Ian Gibson has created an engrossing portrait of Ashbee, which examines the evidence that Ashbee himself may have been the author of the most famous work of Victorian erotica, My Secret Life.
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This is a peculiar sort of biographical production, an unusual addition to Gibson's otherwise excellent list of books. It is certainly written and researched with care, and constitutes a genuine scholarly contribution to this little-studied aspect of Victorian life. But it is also oddly dispiriting to read--not because of Gibson's immaculate writing, but because of Ashbee's monomaniacal proclivities. Pornography, at the very least, should be sexually exciting; but only a very particular sort of individual will find much stimulation in the depressing array of flagellation and violence that crops up all through this material. As Gibson concedes at the end of his book, Ashbee is "sad--in, we assume, the traditional as well as the modern sense of the word: nobody with a reasonably happy affective life is going to spend years writing and collecting this sort of 'obsessive, reiterative' material". --Adam Roberts
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0571209041
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new0571209041
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Henry Spencer Ashbee seemed a prosperous and respectable Victorian gentleman. Acclaimed biographer Ian Gibson has created an engrossing portrait of Ashbee, which examines the evidence that Ashbee himself may have been the author of the most famous work of Victorian erotica, My Secret Life. Seller Inventory # B9780571209040
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. pb, 285pp, plates. Seller Inventory # 2102030
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 304 pages. 7.80x4.88x0.79 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0571209041
Book Description Condition: New. Henry Spencer Ashbee (1834-1900) was a prosperous and respectable Victorian gentleman. But he was a gentleman with a secret. Within the well-appointed chambers of Gray's Inn, Ashbee concealed an astonishingly vast collection of erotica and pornography, thousands of volumes strong. Num Pages: 304 pages, illustrations facsimiles, map, portraits. BIC Classification: BGH; JFMP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 195 x 124 x 21. Weight in Grams: 240. . 2002. Main. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780571209040
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0571209041
Book Description Condition: New. Henry Spencer Ashbee (1834-1900) was a prosperous and respectable Victorian gentleman. But he was a gentleman with a secret. Within the well-appointed chambers of Gray's Inn, Ashbee concealed an astonishingly vast collection of erotica and pornography, thousands of volumes strong. Num Pages: 304 pages, illustrations facsimiles, map, portraits. BIC Classification: BGH; JFMP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 195 x 124 x 21. Weight in Grams: 240. . 2002. Main. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780571209040
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # SKU9780571209040