AN extremely rare and bawdy guide to London's secret brothels in 1841 has sold for more than £4,000.
The first edition of Swell's Night Guide Through The Metropolis lists clubs, pubs, bars and theatres where ladies of the night could be found.
The politically incorrect book detailed the prostitutes.
One was described as "a perfect English beauty" — another, less flatteringly, as "fair, fat and 50".
The copy was sold by a private collector through auction house Hansons, of Etwall, Derbyshire.
Images of the book's interior show drawings of scantily clad women, drunken nights in taverns and prostitutes fornicating with clients in brothels.
DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE
The introduction, below drawing of a pile of nude images of various prostitutes reads: "The present work is compiled by a man of fashion; who spent a fortune in pursuit of meretricious pleasures which are alone to be found in London, confessedly the noblest capital in the known world."
One page of the salacious guide contains a lengthy description of a particular actress named Mrs Honey, alongside a drawing of her.
The author writes: "Without any very extraordinary degree of beauty she has, during her career, turned the brains of half the young men about Town."
Another page tells of a venue named The Saloon, describing it as a "palace of refreshment", where "the most voluptuous sofas invite to love and dalliance".
It is a fascinating piece of social history
The leather-bound guide, dating back 178 years, was bought by a private collector, who paid well above its expected value of £1,200.
Jim Spencer, books expert at Hansons of Etwall, Derbys, said: "The content is quite shocking when you see the way the women are referred to like products, but that language must have been seen as appropriate in the day.
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"Even at the time this would likely to have been an under the counter book so for a first edition copy to survive until now makes it incredibly scarce.
"Many copies would have probably been destroyed at the time by men to cover their tracks when they got married.
"I always suspected this book might do better than the estimate because it is a fascinating piece of social history, capturing a side of London that was secretive and hidden."
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