Flagellation and the Flagellants: A History of the Rod in all Countries from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.

Flagellation and the Flagellants: A History of the Rod is an essential text for readers interested in the history of corporal punishment and in Victorian erotica focusing on flagellation. Written by the Scottish author and journalist James Glass Bertram (1824-1892) using the assumed name Reverend William Cooper, it is an intriguing pseudo-academic collection of fiction, fact, and fantasy with numerous illustrations. Chapters on flogging in diverse social, cultural, and historical contexts illuminate subjects, people, and events referred and alluded to in many clandestine classics.

The first edition of Flagellation and the Flagellants was printed in Edinburgh and published openly in London by John Camden Hotten in 1870. A second edition was issued in 1873. Bertram’s flagellant fiction, The Merry Order of St. Bridget, which was written under the pseudonym Margaret Anson, was published by Hotten in 1868. It was published clandestinely and is available from Birchgrove Press.

This edition is based on the first. Formatting and layout, however, have been revised specifically for the Kindle. Although index listings are redundant in a digital format without page numbers, they have been retained in fidelity to the original edition and to provide topics for searching. Errata listed in the first edition have been corrected and the list deleted. Most illustrations have been repositioned slightly vis-à-vis the original text layout in response to the deletion of page numbers. Illustrations have been enhanced digitally to improve image quality. Notably, this edition includes 32 plates of advertisements that Hotten issued with the 1870 edition of Bertram’s work. They provide a fascinating window into the diversity of Hotten’s open publications.