Charles Carrington
Charles Carrington (Nov. 11, 1867 - October 15, 1921) was a publisher of erotic books and one of the pioneers of the "golden age" of late-19th and early 20th century French spanking literature. Charles Carrington was actually a pseudonym, his real name was Paul Harry Ferdinando.
Carrington grew up in London, England and moved to Paris, France between 1893 and 1896, where he opened his first bookshop. Here he published hundreds of erotic books including many flagellation novels richly illustrated by well-known artists such as Martin van Maële. Many were limited editions of only a few hundred copies privately sold by subscription only. Carrington, who was also a writer, translated scores of French novels to English and rewrote them to appeal to his clientele, mainly upper middle class English and American buyers who wanted books that were both intellectually respectable and risque.
In 1907 he was deported from France for publishing and selling literature "of a very obscene and vulgar character". For the next five years he lived in exile in Bruxelles, Belgium, where he continued his publishing activities on a small scale, usually through his agents Roberts and Dardaillon. In 1912 he moved back to France, reopened a bookshop and published a small number of books until his death nine years later. He suffered from syphilis from which he grew blind by 1920, and was admitted to the mental hospital at Ivry, south of Paris, where he died on October 15, 1921. During his 26 years in business, Carrington published nearly 300 books.
Many of Carrington's books are cataloged at the Biblio Curiosa website.
Selected publications[edit]
- Experimental Lecture (1878) by the pseudonym "Colonel Spanker" for the "Cosmopolitan Society of Bibliophiles", one of his imprints. The Colonel and his circle have a house in Park Lane where genteel young ladies are kidnapped, humiliated, flagellated and raped.
- Raped on the Railway: a True Story of a Lady who was first ravished and then flagellated on the Scotch Express (1894) by Anonymous for the "Cosmopolitan Bibliophile Society".
- Beatrice (1895) by Anonymous.
- With Rod and Bum, or, Sport in the West end of London by Ophelia Cox. A True Tale by a Young Governess (1890s)
- The Loves of a Musical Student - being the History of the Adventures and Amorous Intrigues of a Young Rake (1897) by Anonymous.
- Memoirs of Private Flagellation (1899) by Anonymous (Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles Français et Étrangers).
- The Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899) by Anonymous (generally attributed to Jean de Villiot, aka Hugues Rebell). Edited and published in London and Paris by Charles Carrington.
- Nell in Bridewell (1900) by Wilhelm Reinhard (Paris, Society of British Bibliophiles [Carrington]), translated to English from the original German. Also published in French as La Flagellation des femmes en Allemagne (1901).
- The Callipyges: The Whole Philosophy and Secret Mystery of Female Flagellation (1901, translated from French)
- The Mysteries of Verbena House (1901, also available in French as Les Mystères de la Maison de la Verveine)
- Curious Cases of Flagellation in France (1901) by Augustin Cabanès (London, Privately Printed for the subscribers to Dr. Cabanès Bypaths of History).
- Les Petites Flagellations (1901) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym).
- "Frank" and I (1902, anonymous)
- The Magnetism of the Rod or the Revelations of Miss Darcy (1902). A reprint of The Romance of Chastisement (1866) by St. George H. Stock.
- Le Fouet à Londres (The Whip in London) (1902), published in Paris by Charles Carrington as part of the series La Flagellation a Travers le Monde.
- Les Flagellants et les flagellés de Paris (1902) by Charles Virmaître.
- Femmes châtiées (1903) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym). French translaton of Charles Carrington's Whipped Women short stories; original manuscript published in 1994.
- Woman and Her Master (1904) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym). Flagellation erotica translated into English by Charles Carrington from the original 1902 French edition, La Femme et son maître.
- La Flagellation amoureuse (1904) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym).
- Birch in the Boudoir (1905) by Anonymous (attributed to Hugues Rebell, real name Georges Grassal), translated and published in Paris by Charles Carrington. Reprinted in 1989 by Blue Moon Books as Beauty in the Birch.
- Le Fouet au harem (1906) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym).
- Fustigations vécues (1907) by Jean de Villiot (collective pseudonym).
- When a Child Loves and When She Hates: A Tale of Birch and Bed by anonymous (1907).
- The Beautiful Flagellants of New York (1907) by Lord Drialys (The Society of British Bibliophiles [Charles Carrington]: Paris).
- Clic! Clac! Précédé d'un conte "Home-Discipline" (1907) by Jean de Villiot (Librairie des Bibliophiles Parisiens [Charles Carrington]).
