Memoirs of Fanny Hill (THE GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY)

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill) is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748. Written while the author was in debtor's prison in London,it is considered "the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel."[3] One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity.

The novel was published in two instaljments, on November 21, 1748 and February 1749, respectively, by "G. Fenton", actually Fenton Griffiths and his brother Ralph. Initially, there was no governmental reaction to the novel, and it was only in November 1749, a year after the first instalment was published, that Cleland and Ralph Griffiths were arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects." In court, Cleland renounced the novel and it was officially withdrawn. However, as the book became popular, pirate editions appeared.