The infamous Victorian monthly magazine The Pearl was published in London from July 1879 to December 1880 and was subsequently shut down by the authorities for publishing obscene literature. Each issue was devoted to explicit erotic stories, sex in high society, incest and flagellation, interspersed with ribald parodies, poems and naughty limericks. This selection of the best of The Pearl—over 330 pages!— is drawn from all of its original 18 issues and provides a fascinating look at the secret obsessions behind the Puritan’s mask. Step inside and enjoy a raunchy romp through the Victorian underground.
from the New Urge “Classics of Passion” series
HIDDEN GEMS: THE BEST OF THE PEARL, A JOURNAL OF FACETIAE AND VOLUPTUOUS READING
Anonymous
Selected and with an introduction by William Hamilton
334 pp., trade paperback, $14.95
On July 4, 2012, we published Alphonse Allais’s MASKS in a limited edition of 50 copies—the first title in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series. The chapbook quickly sold out and, today, is a coveted collector’s item. Since we’ve received many requests to reprint the book, we’re pleased to announce a revised and expanded edition. Translated from the French, adapted and illustrated by Norman Conquest, this new volume also features a most Allaisian introduction & notes on the text by the great Doug Skinner. Originally published in France under the title Un drame bien parisien (1890), this darkly humorous tale is quintessential Allais—a pataphysical text admired by the Surrealists (André Breton included it in his seminal Anthologie de l’humour noir). It was also celebrated by the French group Oulipo, and has been the subject of scholarly studies by the writer and semiotician Umberto Eco, Francis Corblin, and others. 
