Written in 1749 while Cleland was in debtor's prison in London, it is considered the first "erotic" novel and its publication caused a furor. Immediately upon its release, the Church of England asked the British Secretary of State to "stop the progress of this vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners." As a result, Cleland was arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects."
Nonetheless, copies of the book were sold "underground," and the book eventually made its way to the United States where, in 1821, it was banned for obscenity.
In 1963, G. B. Putnam published the book under the title "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" which also was immediately banned for obscenity. The publisher challenged the ban in court.
In a landmark decision in 1966, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the banned novel did not meet the Roth standard for obscenity.
- The complete text online: http://eserver.org/fiction/fanny-hill/
