Henry Spencer Ashbee’s Followers (14)

Henry Spencer Ashbee

Born

in Southwark, London, England, The United Kingdom

April 21, 1834

Died

July 29, 1900

Genre

Nonfiction, Erotica

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Henry Spencer Ashbee was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer, notorious for his massive, clandestine three volume bibliography of erotic literature written under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi. He is also speculated to be the author of the erotic novel A Night in a Moorish Harem, written under the pseudonym of Lord George Herbert.

Ashbee was born in Southwark, London. He was by occupation a textile trader, the senior partner in the London branch of the firm of Charles Lavy & Co. He travelled extensively during his life, including Europe, Japan, and San Francisco, collaborating with Alexander Graham on Travels in Tunisia, published in 1887. He was an avid book collector, with perhaps the world's most extensive collections of Cervantes Henry Spencer Ashbee was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer, notorious for his massive, clandestine three volume bibliography of erotic literature written under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi. He is also speculated to be the author of the erotic novel A Night in a Moorish Harem, written under the pseudonym of Lord George Herbert.

Ashbee was born in Southwark, London. He was by occupation a textile trader, the senior partner in the London branch of the firm of Charles Lavy & Co. He travelled extensively during his life, including Europe, Japan, and San Francisco, collaborating with Alexander Graham on Travels in Tunisia, published in 1887. He was an avid book collector, with perhaps the world's most extensive collections of Cervantes and erotica. Influenced by a friendship with the Belgian diplomat Joseph Octave Delepierre, his erotica collecting proceeded with purchases in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.

Ashbee was a part of a loose intellectual fraternity of English gentlemen who discussed sexual matters with a freedom that was at odds with Victorian mores; this fraternity included Richard Francis Burton, Richard Monckton Milnes, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and others. He also amassed thousands of volumes of pornography in several languages. He wrote on sex under the pseudonyms "Fraxinus" (Ash) and "Apis" (Bee), and sometimes combined them as "Pisanus Fraxi".

Ashbee's will left his entire collection to the British Museum, with the condition that the erotic works had to be accepted along with the conventional items. Because the trustees wanted the materials related to Cervantes, they decided to accept the bequest. The trustees were allowed to destroy any of the books if they had a duplicate, but in practice went much further and destroyed six boxes "of offensive matter which is of no value or interest" including cheaply produced Victorian erotica. The remainder of the works formed the core of the Private Case which were kept hidden from readers in the British Library for many years; they include a work by William Simpson Potter.

Ashbee married Elisabeth Lavy in Hamburg, Germany in 1862. They had one son, Charles (the designer Charles Robert Ashbee, born 1863), and three daughters. His family life grew unhappier as he aged. As he became more conservative, his family followed the progressive movement of the era. "The 'excessive education' of his daughters irritated him, his Jewish wife's pro-suffragism infuriated him, and he became tragically estranged from his socialist homosexual son, Charles". Henry and Elisabeth separated in 1893. Henry Spencer Ashbee is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. ...more

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Henry Spencer Ashbee’s books

Average rating: 3.43 · 784 ratings · 86 reviews · 73 distinct works

	My Secret Life: An Erotic Diary of Victorian London 3.42 avg rating — 699 ratings — published 1888 — 145 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life 1 3.33 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1888 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Collection of Previously Banned Victorian Erotica: Romance of Lust, Forbidden Fruit, and My Secret Life 3.75 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life 2 by Henry Spencer Ashbee, Walter 3.34 avg rating — 32 ratings — published 1994 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life 3 by Henry Spencer Ashbee, Walter 4.25 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life 1-2: The Sex Diary of a Victorian Gentleman 3.13 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Forbidden books of the Victorians: Henry Spencer Ashbee's bibliographies of erotica by Henry Spencer Ashbee, Peter Fryer (editor) 3.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1970 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life, The Complete Volumes 9 - 11 by Henry Spencer Ashbee, Nickelby Wessington-Worth (Foreword) 3.14 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1888 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life: Sex Diary of a Victorian Gentleman (Volumes VIII to XI) (My Secret Life (Sex Diary of a Victorian Gentleman) Book 3) 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Secret Life: Volumes I-VI it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1966	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Henry Spencer Ashbee (?)

“There is, I believe, no person, however insignificant in the world, but, if an account of his life and adventures were committed to paper, would be entertaining in some degree: the follies of our own life, and those we are liable to be drawn into by others, will constantly afford matter for serious reflection.”
― Henry Spencer Ashbee

tags: insignificance, life, reflection

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“Voluptuous”
― Henry Spencer Ashbee, MY SECRET LIFE

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“feeling each other for a time, if mine could be called feeling, when my lingers only touched the top of the notch. I took up the candle. "I won't go if you bring a light," said she, so I put down the candle, and”
― Henry Spencer Ashbee, MY SECRET LIFE

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