Memoirs of Henrietta Caracciolo, of the Princes of Forino. Ex Benedictine Nun
by [Erotic Literature] [Caracciolo, Henrietta]
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Pasadena, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Richard Bentley, 1864. First English language edition. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with morocco label to spine. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. Measuring 179 x 119mm and collating complete including photographic frontis: x, 374. A square, tight copy with some loss to upper spine label and gentle rubbing to boards. Amorial bookplate to front pastedown. Light scattered foxing largely confined to preliminary and terminal leaves; pages 161-162 partially detached but holding. A female-authored memoir that participates in both anti-Catholicism and convent-fetish eroticism, it is somewhat scarce institutionally but is a rarity in trade with its most recent appearance at auction occurring a century ago. The present is the only example currently on the market.
Frank in her delivery, Henrietta Caracciolo recounts how her rise to young womanhood under the jealous eye of her mother -- combined with the untimely death of a sympathetic father -- led to her unwilling confinement in a Benedictine convent. Denied early opportunities for engaging in the courtship and marriage economy she longs to be a part of, Henrietta Caracciolo instead is forced by her mother to repress her sexual identity and disappear into a life of solitude and chastity. What she finds there instead is a space of sexual abuse, unexplained deaths, illicit affairs, physical abuse, and theft. "My sole aim in writing these Memoirs has been to confirm," she writes in the preface, "as far as lay in my power, with the arguement drawn from fact, the opportune and just decree of the Italian government in the suppression of Convents, and to disabuse the minds of those (if haply any such remain) who deem these places the repositories of religious virtues." Timely social commentary in her native Italy, her memoirs hit a different note in Protestant England where Catholic convents and monasteries had long been closed; indeed, it participated in the anti-Catholic fetish fantasy of convents and monasteries as bastions of deviant and violent sexuality. She herself, by the memoir's end, emerges to a new and more promising life -- one which participates in popular Victorian cult of domesticity and motherhood, which she positions as far more godly and fulfilling. Yet it also leaves open the door of female desire and sexual fulfilment. "By the side of a husband who adores me, and to whom I respond with equal love, I am where the Almighty placed woman at the close of Creation's first week."
Register of Erotic Books 2950.
Frank in her delivery, Henrietta Caracciolo recounts how her rise to young womanhood under the jealous eye of her mother -- combined with the untimely death of a sympathetic father -- led to her unwilling confinement in a Benedictine convent. Denied early opportunities for engaging in the courtship and marriage economy she longs to be a part of, Henrietta Caracciolo instead is forced by her mother to repress her sexual identity and disappear into a life of solitude and chastity. What she finds there instead is a space of sexual abuse, unexplained deaths, illicit affairs, physical abuse, and theft. "My sole aim in writing these Memoirs has been to confirm," she writes in the preface, "as far as lay in my power, with the arguement drawn from fact, the opportune and just decree of the Italian government in the suppression of Convents, and to disabuse the minds of those (if haply any such remain) who deem these places the repositories of religious virtues." Timely social commentary in her native Italy, her memoirs hit a different note in Protestant England where Catholic convents and monasteries had long been closed; indeed, it participated in the anti-Catholic fetish fantasy of convents and monasteries as bastions of deviant and violent sexuality. She herself, by the memoir's end, emerges to a new and more promising life -- one which participates in popular Victorian cult of domesticity and motherhood, which she positions as far more godly and fulfilling. Yet it also leaves open the door of female desire and sexual fulfilment. "By the side of a husband who adores me, and to whom I respond with equal love, I am where the Almighty placed woman at the close of Creation's first week."
Register of Erotic Books 2950.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Whitmore Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 5626
- Title
- Memoirs of Henrietta Caracciolo, of the Princes of Forino. Ex Benedictine Nun
- Author
- [Erotic Literature] [Caracciolo, Henrietta]
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First English language edition
- Publisher
- Richard Bentley
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1864
Terms of Sale
Whitmore Rare Books
15 day return guarantee, with full refund if an item arrives damaged or not matching the description.
About the Seller
Whitmore Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Pasadena, California
About Whitmore Rare Books
We operate a retail shop in "Old Town" Pasadena open normal business hours Tuesday through Saturday.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Morocco
- Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Marbled boards
- ...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Spine Label
- The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the...