In Bed With the Georgians: Sex, Scandal and Satire in the 18th Century

In Bed with the Georgians provides a fascinating insight into life under the bed-clothes in Georgian England, where the Madams and pimps were able to thrive in the eighteenth century like never before. It looks at high-class seraglios as well as the brothels, jelly-houses and bagnios which flourished openly, especially in the area around Covent Garden. It looks at courtesans from the highest echelons of society, the kept women, the sex-workers in 'houses of pleasure', down through to the street walkers and common whores. It shows the way that the sex scene was portrayed in contemporary letters and press reports, and focuses on royal scandals, aristocratic shenanigans and immoral behaviour. The book looks at the role of Grub Street, the growth of celebrity status, and the way courtesans occupied a demi-monde of great popularity, with their enormous wealth and conspicuous spending. In particular it looks at the way that caricaturists, such as Gillray, Rowlandson, Newton, and Cruikshank, pilloried the rich and famous for their peccadilloes, satirizing their wild excesses, and by so doing helped inform the general public of what their 'social superiors' were getting up to. This book is lavishly illustrated in colour and contains a useful glossary of many aspects of the world of the sex trade in London two and a half centuries ago.

“For many books detailing the passion of kings and paramours, it's easy to be soft in the portrayal of their love lives. The ambiguity that follows, though, can almost mask true deviance by simply not delving deeper. It's refreshing, then, that In Bed With the Georgians is more explicit, providing an authenticity that can often go amiss. With graphic descriptions and plenty of satirical imagery referenced throughout, In Bed With The Georgians explores the celebrity courtesans of the era alongside the scandals in royal court, common lingo, the impact of newspapers, brothels, lower-class sex workers, sex crimes of the 18th century and more. Almost nothing escapes the sharp tongue of the author, with his sarcastic commentary on the ignorance and hedonism of Georgian men. His text, though humorous at times, focuses foremost on delivering a wide-ranging perspective for modern readers.”

""-- "History of Royals" (2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

This is Mike's eighth book, all of them about Georgian England. His interest in the period was inspired by a fascinating cache of papers left by his 18th Century ancestors. He has written a general social history, a story about the founder of the modern circus, an introduction to the Georgians and to the Regency period, as well as books on art-related subjects. He spends his time, when not writing, giving lectures about life in Georgian Britain, both in England and abroad, and on cruise liners. He divides his time between homes in Spain and on the edge of Dartmoor.

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