“Representing the last stage of mental and bodily exhaustion from Onanism or Self-pollution”, a coloured engraving from The Secret Companion, a Medical Work on Onanism (1845) depicting the deleterious effects of self-love stemming from a wanton waste of semen.
Featured on PDR in the essay The Secret History of Holywell Street: Home to Victorian London’s Dirty Book Trade
Victorian sexuality is often considered synonymous with prudishness, conjuring images of covered-up piano legs and dark ankle-length skirts. Historian Matthew Green uncovers a quite different scene in the sordid story of Holywell St, 19th-century London's epicentre of erotica and smut.
Also appearing in the essay…
Representing the Last Stage of Mental and Bodily Exhaustion from Onanism or Self-Pollution
Date
1845
From
The Secret Companion, a Medical Work on Onanism
