Regency S*x Ed: How did women in 19th-century Europe learn too lie back and think of England?

Books explicitly designed for sexual education also existed in the period. One well-known work was the grandiosely titled Aristotle's Masterpiece, first published in 1648 but regularly revised and reprinted throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. (No connection to the ancient Greek philosopher is supported by the historical record.) The manual includes descriptions and diagrams of sexual anatomy, including an explanation of the clitoris as crucial to female pleasure. Tableau de l'Amour Conjugal by Nicolas Venette was purportedly written by a medical doctor and, like Aristotle's Masterpiece, was a central sexual education text for hundreds of years after its 17th-century publication. In 1826, frequently jailed British reformer and radical publisher Richard Carlile put out the first well-known sexual education tract specifically designed for women: Every Woman's Book, or What Is Love? Every Woman's Book includes extensive descriptions of contraceptive options, including how to access and employ them. These books were often sold alongside medical textbooks, but we know from newspapers and diaries that they were frequently read by laypeople as well. Though Aristotle's Masterpiece and its later editions were often published anonymously, print runs were high and the book sold extremely well — even when the medical information therein was considerably out of date.

And of course, the historical record also gives us numerous books from the period written for titillation. Eighteenth-century erotic novels, often translated from the French, were enormously popular and provide a fascinating window into the sexuality of the period. Lesbian sexual encounters were common in fiction, even for otherwise heterosexual characters, such as the eponymous Fanny Hill, written by John Cleland in 1748. Works like the Harris's Lists of Covent Garden Ladies, published annually in the second half of the 18th century, blur the lines between guidebook and erotica. These lists purport to describe all the s*x workers in London, often in effusive and charming terms, along with their prices and favorite activities. One "inviting nymph" in 1788 is "of the middle stature, fine auburn hair, dark eyes, and very inviting countenance … In bed she is all the heart can wish, or eye admire, every limb is symmetry, every action under cover truly amorous." The list helpfully informs us that this nymph's fee "is two pounds two." S*x worker memoirs were not uncommon; one particularly well-known work in this genre is The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, Written by Herself (1825). Wilson's lovers included numerous members of high society, including the Duke of Wellington, and her autobiography displays her ambition, intellect, and powerful style. "I will be the mere instrument of pleasure to no man," she writes.

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