Product Description

Written 12 years before Teleny by Saul and a likely ghostwriter, this account of Victorian cross-dressing and rentboys is a legend all its own. The work draws on the author’s own experiences with an all-male brothel in Cleveland Street (later shut down scandalously.)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207053 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Customer Reviews

A Gay Romp
I must admit that I was misled to a certain degree. Being heterosexual reading a gay porn novel isn't what I would deem as my usual fare, and to be honest I thought that this was a non-fiction book about the dark underbelly of gay 19th Century London that would give me a clearer idea of all aspects of London back in those days. How wrong I was though, this is a legendary gay porn novel (one of the first in this country) supposedly written by Jack Saul, a well known rent-boy. I have since found that some say this was written by Jack Saul and a ghost writer, and others saying that it was written by an artist and a writer of erotica - but at the end of the day who cares?

By the end of the first page I knew my error in buying this, but even so I was hooked. With such wording as 'it appeared as if a tremendous length of sausage had been stuffed down along the thigh of his right leg' and 'was it natural or made up by some artificial means?' I have been laughing out loud whilst reading this book. Although full of typos I found that I absolutely love this book. Like Cleland's Fanny Hill it has a certain charm and joie de vivre that is lacking in most books, especially in the erotic genre. I am surprised that there isn't a review here already for this book, but in a way I am glad as I would not have bought it, being thus forewarned what it was really about. With spanking, being tied up and being tied down and gang raped this book probably covers most of the erotic subjects that were prevalent at the time (lots of orgies), and with some of the men cross dressing it adds an extra element.

By today's standard this probably would be considered smutty more than a hardcore novel, and indeed it does show a certain innocence, which for me made it more memorable. It isn't that well written either but for someone who wouldn't normally read this type of book I thoroughly love it and would advise it for anyone who is into or collects any erotica from the period. If I found this fun to read then this is definitely more mainstream than you would expect and should be read by a larger auience. But if you take this book seriously you would believe that the nineteenth century was awash with gays, and of course there would be none of us. Indeed a great light hearted romp.