The Pearl (magazine)
The Pearl, A Magazine of Facetiae and Voluptuous Reading was a pornographic monthly magazine issued for 18 months in London by William Lazenby from July 1879 to December 1880,[1] with two Christmas supplements; it was closed down by the authorities for publishing obscene literature. Lazenby followed it with The Oyster (1883) and The Boudoir.[2]
The general format of the magazine was to publish three serial erotic tales simultaneously, devoted to sex in high society, incest and flagellation, respectively, interspersed with obscene parodies, poems and limericks.[3] The publisher William Lazenby also wrote some of the contents.[4] Some of the poems are thought to have been written by Algernon Charles Swinburne.[5][6][7] The format of the magazine can be seen as a parody of contemporary magazines aimed at the family market.[8]
The Pearl contains "My Grandmother's Tale", the first pornographic story based on slavery in the American South.[4]
In Australia in 2011 a man was convicted for possession of The Pearl due to the presence of "child exploitation material".[9] However the conviction was set aside on appeal.[10]
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[edit] Rhymes, songs and parodies
The Pearl published limericks under the label 'Nursery Rhymes'. The heading is facetious, as their content would certainly not be appropriate for the nursery. The following example was included in The Pearl, Issue Nº 1, July 1879.
- There was a young man from Peru,
- Who had nothing whatever to do;
- So he took out his carrot
- And he buggered his parrot,
- And sent the result to the zoo.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Bill Adler (ed.), "The Pearl", Blue Moon Books, 2004, ISBN 1562014102
[edit] Cameos
The Pearl's characters and venues, being Victoriana, are featured in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore.
[edit] References
- ^ Rachel Potter, "Obscene Modernism and the Trade in Salacious Books", Modernism/modernity, Volume 16, Number 1, January 2009, pp.87-104 doi:10.1353/mod.0.0065
- ^ Vance Randolph, "Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore: Blow the candle out", Volume 2 of Roll Me in Your Arms: Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore, ed. Gershon Legman, University of Arkansas Press, 1992, ISBN 1557282374, p.898
- ^ Donald Thomas, "A Long Time Burning", Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1969, p.276
- ^ a b Lisa Z. Sigel, "International exposure: perspectives on modern European pornography, 1800-2000", Rutgers University Press, 2005, ISBN 0813535190, pp.64,73-74
- ^ Frank Bates, "Corporal Punishment in Legal, Historical and Social Context", Manitoba Law Journal 12 (1982-1983) 337
- ^ Donald Serrell Thomas, "Swinburne, the poet in his world", Oxford University Press, 1979, ISBN 0195201361, p.216
- ^ Thomas S. Weinberg "S & M: studies in dominance & submission", Prometheus Book, 1995, ISBN 087975978X, p.226
- ^ Marcus, Sharon (2007). Between women: friendship, desire, and marriage in Victorian England. Princeton University Press. p. 289. ISBN 0691128359.
- ^ Councillor's child porn guilt
- ^ Child porn finding revoked
- Claudia Nelson, Michelle H. Martin, "Sexual pedagogies: sex education in Britain, Australia, and America, 1879-2000", Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 1403963509, Chap.1
- John Alfred Atkins, "Sex in literature, Volume 4", Calder & Boyars, 1982, ISBN 071453756X, pp. 334–337
[edit] External links
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