Harriette Wilson's Memoirs of Herself and Others Volume 1

In good plus condition. A memoir written by Harriette Wilson, a celebrated and notorious English courtesan of the Regency era, best known for her witty, scandalous and commercially successful memoirs.

Brown cloth boards faded and scuffed remain square and sound. Endpapers and preliminaries age toned with a little spotting, otherwise unmarked. Full page frontispiece depicts the female author. Three further full page illustrations follow title page depicting ‘H Wilson finding a pair of Breeches in Amy’s room’, a portrait of ‘Amy’ and a portrait titled ‘Sophia’. Text block very sound, age toned and sometimes soiled; a small clean tear noted on p.240. 244 pp.

A high class mistress with many wealthy patrons, Harriette Wilson and her publisher wrote pre publication to her former clients offering to edit them out of the book for a payment of £200. When she approached the Duke of Wellington, he famously retorted with the now-legendary phrase, ‘Publish and be damned!’