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Details
CRIMINAL CONVERSATION -- The Cuckold's Chronicle; being Select Trials for Adultery, Incest, Imbecillity, Ravishment. London: H. Lemoin, 1793.
2 volumes, octavo (226 x 140 mm). Vol. I with 11 engraved plates, 2pp. of ads and 4pp. index at end; vol. II with 10 engraved plates, 4pp. index and 2pp. of ads. (Occasional insignificant browning and offsetting.) Uncut in contemporary boards (original stab holes visible, extremities faintly soiled and rubbed).
VERY RARE FIRST EDITION. Wagner has demonstrated how in the 18th Century, reports of trials concerning criminal conversation ('crim. con.'; i.e. a husband bringing an action for damages against his wife's paramour) became extremely popular, and were specifically 'published and read for erotic reasons' (Wagner). The 18th-century fashion for arranged marriages to secure finances and improve social and political influence, with little thought given to the personal feelings of those concerned, led to a great number of extra-marital affairs by both men and women. The reports of consequent divorce cases aroused great interest across all classes, with the trial reports becoming more sexually explicit towards the end of the century. 'THE APOGEE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF [THE CRIMINAL CONVERSATION] GENRE TOWARD PORNOGRAPHY WAS REACHED WITH THE PUBLICATION IN 1793 OF THE CUCKOLD'S CHRONICLE' (Wagner). ESTC N44461; Wagner Courtroom pp.131-4.
2 volumes, octavo (226 x 140 mm). Vol. I with 11 engraved plates, 2pp. of ads and 4pp. index at end; vol. II with 10 engraved plates, 4pp. index and 2pp. of ads. (Occasional insignificant browning and offsetting.) Uncut in contemporary boards (original stab holes visible, extremities faintly soiled and rubbed).
VERY RARE FIRST EDITION. Wagner has demonstrated how in the 18th Century, reports of trials concerning criminal conversation ('crim. con.'; i.e. a husband bringing an action for damages against his wife's paramour) became extremely popular, and were specifically 'published and read for erotic reasons' (Wagner). The 18th-century fashion for arranged marriages to secure finances and improve social and political influence, with little thought given to the personal feelings of those concerned, led to a great number of extra-marital affairs by both men and women. The reports of consequent divorce cases aroused great interest across all classes, with the trial reports becoming more sexually explicit towards the end of the century. 'THE APOGEE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF [THE CRIMINAL CONVERSATION] GENRE TOWARD PORNOGRAPHY WAS REACHED WITH THE PUBLICATION IN 1793 OF THE CUCKOLD'S CHRONICLE' (Wagner). ESTC N44461; Wagner Courtroom pp.131-4.
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