Folio Archives 62: Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs 1979
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1wcarter
Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs 1979
Harriette Wilson was a courtesan in Regency London and Paris, who started her career in 1801 when she was 15 years old. She excelled in her career as one of the outstanding practitioners of her art, and was widely known (by sight and name if not intimately) by everyone who was anyone.
A courtesan was an excepted member of high society at the time, and had her own accepted etiquette and protocol. An upper-class man’s wife bore his children and managed his home, while his courtesan kept him entertained.
In these detailed memoirs, which were very controversial best-seller when first published, Harriette describes dalliances and assignations, both innocent and lustful, with a wide range of London’s society at the time, varying from the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron to not so well known wealthy merchants and innumerable dukes, earls and viscounts.
Unfortunately, members of this profession depend on their looks and charms to earn their income, and as Harriette’s faded, so did her income. She published her memoirs in order to bribe those who were included in its pages, but ended up as a pauper after alienating the society that had nurtured her during her youth.
The book is in a standard Folio Society format for the era, but this one was published by the Folio Press, which was a fully owned imprint of the FS. Folio press books could be bought without subscribing to the Folio Society, but were otherwise identical in their style and quality of production.
It is bound in dark red cloth blocked on front, back and spine with a gilt pattern and spine title. The pale pink slipcase is very flimsy and printed in red with the same design as that on the cover. There are 12 interleaved contemporary illustrations, and 378 pages in the book which measures 25.5x16.2cm. in its slipcase. There is an index. The endleaves are plain dark pink.
The text is an abbreviated one taken from the very long original, selected, introduced and edited by Lesley Branch.
Another very interesting and intimately detailed insight into a style of life that has now disappeared.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Harriette Wilson was a courtesan in Regency London and Paris, who started her career in 1801 when she was 15 years old. She excelled in her career as one of the outstanding practitioners of her art, and was widely known (by sight and name if not intimately) by everyone who was anyone.
A courtesan was an excepted member of high society at the time, and had her own accepted etiquette and protocol. An upper-class man’s wife bore his children and managed his home, while his courtesan kept him entertained.
In these detailed memoirs, which were very controversial best-seller when first published, Harriette describes dalliances and assignations, both innocent and lustful, with a wide range of London’s society at the time, varying from the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron to not so well known wealthy merchants and innumerable dukes, earls and viscounts.
Unfortunately, members of this profession depend on their looks and charms to earn their income, and as Harriette’s faded, so did her income. She published her memoirs in order to bribe those who were included in its pages, but ended up as a pauper after alienating the society that had nurtured her during her youth.
The book is in a standard Folio Society format for the era, but this one was published by the Folio Press, which was a fully owned imprint of the FS. Folio press books could be bought without subscribing to the Folio Society, but were otherwise identical in their style and quality of production.
It is bound in dark red cloth blocked on front, back and spine with a gilt pattern and spine title. The pale pink slipcase is very flimsy and printed in red with the same design as that on the cover. There are 12 interleaved contemporary illustrations, and 378 pages in the book which measures 25.5x16.2cm. in its slipcase. There is an index. The endleaves are plain dark pink.
The text is an abbreviated one taken from the very long original, selected, introduced and edited by Lesley Branch.
Another very interesting and intimately detailed insight into a style of life that has now disappeared.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2drasvola
It may be of interest that there is an earlier Folio Society letterpress edition, of 1964, bound in full purple artificial silk with the same spine design but identified as published by The Folio Society. The cover has no design and the endleaves are light green.
3boldface
>1 wcarter:
Interesting. I have the same Folio Press edition but it's blank on the spine where the words "The Folio Press" ought to be. Also, it has a plain red slipcase. I bought it from a secondhand bookshop in 2003, so now I'm thinking it must be a "reject"! I'm still happy with it as in all other respects it's in mint condition.
An entertaining read!
Interesting. I have the same Folio Press edition but it's blank on the spine where the words "The Folio Press" ought to be. Also, it has a plain red slipcase. I bought it from a secondhand bookshop in 2003, so now I'm thinking it must be a "reject"! I'm still happy with it as in all other respects it's in mint condition.
An entertaining read!
4wcarter
>2 drasvola:
Yours appears to be the more desireable edition.
Yours appears to be the more desireable edition.
5folio_books
>4 wcarter:
Generally the photo-litho reprints by Folio and J.M Dent in the 1970's lack the quality of the originals eg plastic dj replacing the slipcase. I was reminded of these by the introduction of the "Collectables" lately, another inferior product lacking the Folio slipcase and, apparently, suffering the same fate.
Generally the photo-litho reprints by Folio and J.M Dent in the 1970's lack the quality of the originals eg plastic dj replacing the slipcase. I was reminded of these by the introduction of the "Collectables" lately, another inferior product lacking the Folio slipcase and, apparently, suffering the same fate.
