Public-domain ebook
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In: History - Other·History - Ancient·History - Modern (1750+)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #41873.
The book is a nineteenth‑century scholarly survey of prostitution, begun in 1856 and hurried to press after a fire destroyed the author’s original library in February 1858. The surviving draft was revised and expanded, especially with up‑to‑date material on New York, while the chapters on foreign practices are largely compiled from earlier sources. Its contents map a sweeping chronology, from biblical references and ancient Mesopotamian rites through Greek hetairai, Roman regulations, medieval European statutes, and the detailed statistics of nineteenth‑century cities such as Paris, London, Hamburg and New York. The author frames the work as a moral and social investigation, arguing that the phenomenon’s causes, extent, and costs are hidden by societal scorn and that a systematic record is needed to expose its “moral pestilence” and public‑health burden.
Written in a formal, didactic voice typical of mid‑Victorian medical and social writers, the text combines legal excerpts, statistical tables, and moral commentary. Its dense, encyclopedic style will appeal to readers interested in historical sociology, the history of medicine, or the legal and cultural regulation of vice. Scholars of gender studies, historians of public health, and those who enjoy exhaustive reference works on controversial social topics will find it a valuable, if demanding, resource.
The opening · free to read
I am your obliged fellow-citizen, WILLIAM W. SANGER, M.D.
Resident Physician's Office, Blackwell's Island, New York City, August 10th, 1858.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The reader will perceive from the body of this work that the "History of Prostitution" was commenced in the year 1856. It was completed and ready for the press at the close of 1857. On the morning of February 13th, 1858, the Island Hospital on Blackwell's Island was entirely consumed by fire, which spread so rapidly as to render it impossible to save any thing from the flames. Among the property destroyed, my library and manuscripts were included. Fortunately, the first draught of this work had been previously removed from my office, and was preserved, and from that the present volume has been prepared.
Advantage has been taken of the opportunity thus afforded carefully to revise the work and introduce some additional facts, bringing the history, of New York especially, to the present time.
The chapters describing foreign prostitution are not claimed to be entirely original. They are compilations and condensations from every available source. It is believed that the authorities have been named in most cases where the ideas of others have been used; but, owing to the loss of all the original works, it is highly probable that in some instances this has been overlooked. Should the reader discover any omissions of this nature, he will be kind enough to understand that accident alone prevents the usual acknowledgements.
W. W. S.
Resident Physician's Office, Blackwell's Island, New York City, August 10th, 1858.
CONTENTS.
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