Library Illustrative of Social Progress

Title page of Volume VI, Sublime of Flagellation.

Library Illustrative of Social Progress is a book series on erotic flagellation (spanking erotica) in seven volumes.

The volumes were allegedly assembled by the English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862) and were printed in 1872 by Hotten, London. The originals are said to date from 1761-1777. Their authors are for the most part unknown.

Volumes

• Volume I & II: Exhibition of Female Flagellants
• Volume III: Lady Bumtickler's Revels (a self-declared comic opera in two acts on the flagellatory inclinations of aristocratic women)
• Volume IV: The Use of Flogging in Venereal Affairs
• Volume V: Madame Birchini's Dance (a collection of verse and short prose pieces depicting female birching)
• Volume VI: Sublime of Flagellation (only in 9th edition onwards; see also Miss Termagant Flaybum)
• Volume VII: Fashionable Lectures (only in 4th edition onwards)

Volumes 1-6 are available online and can be read or downloaded for free.

Publication history

• Exhibition of Female Flagellants was originally published either by George Peacock or George Cannon in London in 1830 and attributed, probably falsely, to Theresa Berkley.
• Lady Bumtickler's Revels, Madame Birchini's Dance and Sublime of Flagellation were originally published by George Peacock.
• The Use of Flogging in Venereal Affairs is a translation of Tractatus de usu flagrorum in re medica & veneria, et lumborum renumque officio by Johann Heinrich Meibom (1590-1655).

See also

• Elements of Tuition, and Modes of Punishment
• Henry Thomas Buckle on Wikipedia
• The Library Illustrative of Social Progress on Wikipedia
• Exhibition of Female Flagellants on Wikipedia

Links

• Library Illustrative of Social Progress on WikiSource (incomplete)
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress on Open Library (volumes 1-6)
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 1 (Exhibition of Female Flagellants, part 1) on Archive.org
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 2 (Exhibition of Female Flagellants, part 2) on Archive.org
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 3 (Lady Bumtickler's Revels) on Archive.org
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 4 (The Use of Flogging in Venereal Affairs) on Archive.org
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 5 (Madame Birchini's Dance) on Archive.org
• Library Illustrative of Social Progress, vol. 6 (Sublime of Flagellation) on Archive.org