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I have Volumes 1 and 2 of the Black Pearl: The memoirs of a Victorian Sex Magician.
On the face of it, this book is blatantly erotic/pornographic and that appears to be its main purpose. However, it is marketed as the GENUINE memoirs of an aristocratic rake who's adventures in the main took place in the 1890's. The memoirs is reputed to have been published long after the events took place -supposedly in 1925.
From the cover blurb...
Among scholars and connoisseurs of Victorian erotica, THE Black Pearl books have long enjoyed a reputation as one of the rarest and most intriguing examples of 19th Century "underground" writing.
...and from the foreword,
The edition discovered by Dr Geraldine Lamb, the editor, indicates on the publisher's notes opposite the tite page that this work was privately printed in an edition of 156 copies by Van den Haagen of Amsterdam, 1925.
However, here is a quote from volume 2
"I don't reckon that Jack the Ripper was a local", Davidson said to me as we relaxed upon our couches. "Everyone here knows everybody else's business and if he were a local, he'd've been rumbled soon enough. I reckon he was a toff posing as a gent. The tarts gave him easy access. I'm not saying I know who it was but having heard loads of rubbish I
know who it wasn't. Why, some say it could've been the Duke of Clarence, you know, one of the Queen's sons. Hah! Impossible! A friend of mine was up at Balmoral with him the night two girls got killed. Some say it was Dr Gull, the queen's surgeon. Well, you tell me how some old crock in his seventies with a bad heart condition can rip the heart and guts out of tough East End girls who're capable of beating the s**t out of most thugs. I've even heard it said it was Wally Sickert, you know, the artist who was often down this way and who knew most of the girls who got killed. No way! I know Sickert and he's not like that. Everyone knows him around these partsand if you ask any East Ender if it was him, why, man or woman, they'd laugh in your face.
Might've been that peculiar barrister bloke who had a taste for rough trade, though.
"What's his name?" I asked.
"I don't think it would be fair to state it without concrete proof" Davidson replied, "and anyway, He's since committed suicide."
Royal Conspiracy theory pre-1925?
- i doubt it.
I was wondering how this book can be sold under it's present description - false advertising surely? However, I don't have the resources to prove 100% that this series of books are blatant fakes - but considering the blurb, what do you think?
Another relevant quote considering the "Toffs in Spitalfields" thread recently, is the following quote...
"I have heard abuse of the East End and I simply won't put up with it. Everywhere we went, we were welcomed with warmth and hospitality. I had been concerned lest my silk hat, cane, and cloak might upset the locals but this was not the case.
"In these parts" John Davidson said to me, "we hate all toffee-nosed friggers. But we do like a gent"
On the face of it, this book is blatantly erotic/pornographic and that appears to be its main purpose. However, it is marketed as the GENUINE memoirs of an aristocratic rake who's adventures in the main took place in the 1890's. The memoirs is reputed to have been published long after the events took place -supposedly in 1925.
From the cover blurb...
Among scholars and connoisseurs of Victorian erotica, THE Black Pearl books have long enjoyed a reputation as one of the rarest and most intriguing examples of 19th Century "underground" writing.
...and from the foreword,
The edition discovered by Dr Geraldine Lamb, the editor, indicates on the publisher's notes opposite the tite page that this work was privately printed in an edition of 156 copies by Van den Haagen of Amsterdam, 1925.
However, here is a quote from volume 2
"I don't reckon that Jack the Ripper was a local", Davidson said to me as we relaxed upon our couches. "Everyone here knows everybody else's business and if he were a local, he'd've been rumbled soon enough. I reckon he was a toff posing as a gent. The tarts gave him easy access. I'm not saying I know who it was but having heard loads of rubbish I
know who it wasn't. Why, some say it could've been the Duke of Clarence, you know, one of the Queen's sons. Hah! Impossible! A friend of mine was up at Balmoral with him the night two girls got killed. Some say it was Dr Gull, the queen's surgeon. Well, you tell me how some old crock in his seventies with a bad heart condition can rip the heart and guts out of tough East End girls who're capable of beating the s**t out of most thugs. I've even heard it said it was Wally Sickert, you know, the artist who was often down this way and who knew most of the girls who got killed. No way! I know Sickert and he's not like that. Everyone knows him around these partsand if you ask any East Ender if it was him, why, man or woman, they'd laugh in your face.
Might've been that peculiar barrister bloke who had a taste for rough trade, though.
"What's his name?" I asked.
"I don't think it would be fair to state it without concrete proof" Davidson replied, "and anyway, He's since committed suicide."
Royal Conspiracy theory pre-1925?
- i doubt it.
I was wondering how this book can be sold under it's present description - false advertising surely? However, I don't have the resources to prove 100% that this series of books are blatant fakes - but considering the blurb, what do you think?
Another relevant quote considering the "Toffs in Spitalfields" thread recently, is the following quote...
"I have heard abuse of the East End and I simply won't put up with it. Everywhere we went, we were welcomed with warmth and hospitality. I had been concerned lest my silk hat, cane, and cloak might upset the locals but this was not the case.
"In these parts" John Davidson said to me, "we hate all toffee-nosed friggers. But we do like a gent"
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