Wealthy prostitutes who ruled the French capital from their beds pose in notorious 19th Century [tr]

UK Daily Mail ^ | January 22, 2019 | Julian Robinson

[C19fan]

From a courtesan famed for her wealth to a mistress of a future King of England, these are the women who ruled Paris from their bed.

Photos show prostitutes who featured in 'The Pretty Women of Paris' - the nineteenth century directory for the French capital's best courtesans and brothels.

Published in 1883 and limited to 169 copies, the notorious guide listed the names of the city's most famous scarlet women - along with their addresses, qualities and faults.

The handbook - which was aimed at visiting English gentlemen in Paris - meticulously described the sexual specialities and background of every prostitute.

[C19fan]

Victorian version of Craig's List or other sites. Considering how much he slept around, Edward VII was damn lucky he did not get a STD.

[dfwgator]

“ROXANNE!”

[adamjeeps]

I scrolled through the pics and WOOF!! I didn’t see anything worth paying for!

[jonrick46]

The whole lot of the hookers pictured are just plain god awful coyote ugly.

[rktman]

Hairy armpits and legs and BO! Woo hoo!

[Jim Noble]

It is rumored that George V was told on his deathbed that his foreign secretary and his wife were away. The Foreign secretary was Sir Samuel Hoare, so the King was told, “The Hoares have gone to Paris”.

The dying King replied, “Coals to Newcastle”.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That hairy tradition lives on today.

[Reily]

Who knew severe near sightedness was so pandemic in the Victorian era!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

They’re showing a lot of leg in some of those pictures.

[rktman]

Well, it does seem that a certain haughty horse face former secretary of state is all frenchy and stuff. Perhaps he favors the hairy type?

[SES1066]

Different eras & different standards. Generally well fleshed as opposed to our current oft criticized skinny ones. I’m going to guess that the gals in this article were, while meeting contemporary beauty standards, top of the class in intelligence, manners and skills.

[Carriage Hill]

They look like Roller Ball Girls; nothing I’d touch.

[Magnum44]

Did someone ping Laz?

[onedoug]

Is that one-legger in there?

[11th_VA]

Love the comment section: ”Not a looker in the bunch”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wife and i spent a week at a resort in Ixtapa years ago.
One afternoon while soaking in the pool, we saw a Lufthansa DC-10 flying in to the nearby airport.
Within an hour, the pool was overflowing with German and French women. My wife couldn’t take her eyes off all the hair...

[Bratch]

As 'The Pretty Women of Paris' directory shows, many of the prostitutes listed were professional stage actresses. Some of these prostitutes would have been working actresses waiting for their big break so they would have taken pains to entertain their male clients well - in case they were important enough to forward their career on the stage.

The more things change...

[ontap]

I’m 71 yrs old...they don’t look that bad to me!!!!!

[BenLurkin]

DNTJ, Leeds, United Kingdom, 8 minutes ago

“I’ve never understood how the French sold virtue - they’ve never had any to begin with”

[RedMonqey]

"Who knew severe near sightedness was so pandemic in the Victorian era!”

Tertiary syphilis may impair one's sight.

However one may think of these ladies appearance, one must take account that their "customers" were no great prize winners either.