18th Century Sex Toys - 6 ways

A number of 18th century sex toys, and similar items, have come to light in recent years. Here's a selection of the most interesting.

1. Polish Dildo unearthed in 18th century toilet

Found by an archealogist in Gdansk, Poland, whilst digging out an 18th century toilet, this dildo is made of leather, filled with bristles and has a wooden tip.
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2. Essex girls prefer....

Sold at an auction in Essex in 2010 and described in the catalogue as "An extraordinary and exceptionally rare 'Travel Godermiche' being a pair of wooden phallus contained within a fitted kid leather covered Treen case with strap fleurs-de-lys decoration, one phallus 10 inches and with testicles and the other 11 inches and without testicles."
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3. Ivory dildo

This magnificent article can be seen in the Science Museum, London. It is complete with plunger that simulates ejaculation. In 2012 it was part of an exhibition at the Wellcome Museum to explore items that make us superhuman.
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4. Beggar's Benison Prick Glass

 This novelty drinking glass is thought to be from around 1730 and was used by an erotic gentleman's club in Anstruther, Scotland.
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5. The Condom

No collection of sex toys would be complete without including a condom - not exactly a toy, but very necessary, given the prevalence of syphilis in the 18th century.
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6. Prostitutes

The ultimate sex toy, of course, was the prostitute. Mrs Phillips ran a sex shop in Half Moon Street, just off Covent Garden. Here, prostitutes and their clientèle could obtain every item above and more besides.
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If this has whet your appetite for more 18th century sexual titillation feel free to share, pin or general like elsewhere. 


Buy, The Finish, the first in the Venus Squared series of novels about an 18th century Covent Garden prostitute on Amazon, Kobo,  ibooks and Google Play

The Blackwall Yard

In The Surety, book two in the Venus Squared series, Kitty is called to attend the Blackwall Yard.
Here's the location - just to the East of the Isle of Dogs. The second map gives the yard in close up.

The Blackwall Yard was where the East India Company's ship went for refitting. The river would have been full of these ships.

63,000 prostitutes

The number of prostitutes in London during the 18th century could have been as high as 63,000 at any given time. In this picture we can see the link boy, who was a street urchin with a burning torch who would light the way - but who would also aid a harlot in her business by robbing the gentleman or enticing him into a dangerous location

Cant

The criminal world in the 18th century had a language all it's own known as 'cant'. These were slang terms. Whilst they covered everything you can imagine, these are just a few of the terms used in the sex industry for Madams, pimps and prostitutes:
Madams were known as:
buttock brokers, Abbess, Aunt, Mother

Pimps were known as:
Beard Splitters, bulls, cockbawd

Prostitutes were known as:
covent garden nuns, drabs, doxies, casevrow, crackish, fens, bats, blowers… and my favourite quicunque vault.

The Magdalen Hospital for Penitent Prostitutes

 
The Magdalen Hospital for Penitent Prostitutes was founded in 1758 to give 'guidance to the fallen'. I was a place of respite based on silence, isolation and hard work. The18th century rich would flock to the Chapel to listen to the popular preacher William Dodd sermonise, and to observe the penitent prostitutes. In 1777 William Dodd was executed for forgery and the Magdalen Hospital fell out of favour, although something akin to it continued, in name only, until the 1950s.

Casanova

Casanova blows up a condom while prostitutes look on. Condoms have been around for centuries. They were usually made from animal intestines and called (in the 18th century) cundums. They weren't so much to avoid pregnancy as to guard against disease

Connoisseurs

As many as one in five young women in London were prostitutes in the 18th century. This picture is called Connoisseurs by Thomas Rowlandson