Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, published from 1757 to 1795, was an annual directory of prostitutes working in and around Covent Garden, London. It sold for two shillings and sixpence, and in 1791 had an estimated circulation of around 8,000 copies. Each edition contains entries describing the physical appearance and sexual specialities of about 120–190 prostitutes, in sometimes lurid detail. While most entries compliment their subjects, some are critical of bad habits, and a few women are even treated as pariahs, perhaps having fallen out of favour with the lists' authors, who are never revealed. Samuel Derrick is normally credited for originating Harris's List, which may have been named after a Covent Garden pimp, Jack Harris. A Grub Street hack, Derrick may have written the lists from 1757 until his death in 1769; thereafter, the annual's authors are unknown. As the public's opinion began to turn against London's sex trade, and with reformers petitioning the authorities to take action, those involved in the release of Harris's List were in 1795 fined and imprisoned. Modern writers tend to view Harris's List as erotica.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris%27s_List_of_Covent_Garden_Ladies
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1028:
Future Byzantine empress Zoe first took the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoe_Porphyrogenita
1893:
Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India, and Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, signed the Durand Line Agreement, establishing what is now the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line
1940:
Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrived in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks
1945:
Sudirman was elected the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudirman
1970:
The Oregon Highway Division unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with explosives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
inoculate: 1. (transitive, immunology) To introduce an antigenic substance or vaccine into the body, as to produce immunity to a specific disease. 2. (transitive, by extension) To safeguard or protect something as if by inoculation. 3. To add one substance to another; to spike. 4. To graft by inserting buds. 5. (figuratively) To introduce into the mind (used especially of harmful ideas or principles); to imbue. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inoculate
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess. Through a word proceeding out of the mouth of God he was called into being; by one word more he was guided to recognize the Source of his education; by yet another word his station and destiny were safeguarded. The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. --Bahá'u'lláh https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h