There were half a dozen other old books, bound in faded fabric, yellowed sheets sagging from the binding, of a size about that of a trade paperback. A quick measure and google-search says this size is called ‘foolscap octavo’; a size that fits comfortably into one hand, the pages falling easily open, and laying flat without any having to hold them open. I picked up the one in best shape, and decided after a quick look through the subject matter that I simply had to have it, as an insight into Victorian mores. The initial date of publication was 1882; this was the third reprint, apparently, from 1910. It was titled in part, A Doctor’s Talk by one G.L. Austin, MD  . . .  and it is, to put it bluntly, a comprehensive women’s health manual – the 19^th century equivalent of Our Bodies, Ourselves. The ‘Doctor’s talk includes illustrations and quite thorough explanations of everything – although all being quite carefully fenced around with proper Victorian propriety and a kind of magisterial Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management vocabulary.

Among it’s peculiar and antique tendencies is to give every scrap of information about a certain topic – such as contraception, and then (with an absolutely straight editorial face) disapprove comprehensively of every method which has just been exhaustively detailed. And female orgasm, per se, was frowned upon, even within the bounds of the marriage bed. As nearly as I can make out, hacking my way through dense thickets of Victorian medical multi-syllabic disapproval, medical authorities of the day felt it was likely to set off bouts of epilepsy or nymphomania.

 However, the pages on pre-natal development, child-birth and delivery, and general advice regarding female concerns are  . . .  well, pretty comprehensive, and well up to date – at least, as far as what I remember from careful study of Our Bodies, Ourselves. No, say what you will about the Victorians, they might have been a bit prudish among the middle and upper classes, with regard to what it was considered proper for young unmarried girls to know and to do, but otherwise, they were pretty hard-headed – practical to the point of tedium, even. They might have not had much use for the g-spot – but those on the cutting edge of social thinking, certainly did believe that good health among mothers and babies was definitely one of those social goods – and the more information, densely packed into foolscap-octavo sized book – the better.