Courtesans

Harper Collins Publishers, London, United Kingdom, 2003. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. 1st Printing. 363 pages. This book is in very good or better condition. It has no tears to the pages and no pages are missing from the book. The spine of the book is in strong condition. The front cover has some very minor bumps and marks indicating previous use but overall is in really nice, tight condition. Items are in stock and will be shipped same day or next business day directly from our Australian address. SYNOPSIS: During the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a small group of women rose from impoverished obscurity to positions of great power, independence and wealth. In doing so they took control of their lives - and those of other people - and made the world do their will. Men ruined themselves in desperate attempts to gain and retain a courtesan's favours, but she was always courted for far more than sex. In an age in which women were generally not well educated she was often unusually literate and literary, courted for her conversation as well as her physical company. Courtesans were extremely accomplished, and exerted a powerful influence as leaders of fashion and society. They were not received at Court, but inhabited their own parallel world - the demi-monde - complete with its own hierarchies, etiquette and protocol. They were queens of fashion, linguists, musicians, accomplished at political intrigue and, of course, possessors of great erotic gifts. Even to be seen in public with one of the great courtesans was a much-envied achievement. In Courtesans Katie Hickman, author of the bestselling Daughters of Britannia, focuses on the exceptional stories of five outstanding women. Sophia Baddeley, Elizabeth Armistead, Harriette Wilson, Cora Pearl and Catherine Walters may have had very different personalities and talents, but their lives exemplify the dazzling existence of the courtesan. Quantity Available: 1. Category: General, General; ISBN: . ISBN/EAN: 9780007174171. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 0002849. . 9780007174171