The English Governess

This book has reappeared in rather more guises than the average in the field of erotic literature, which is well known for the practice of re-issuing (sometimes with intent to mislead) and re-editing works, using a variety of pseudonymous devices. There appear to be two principal editions, one represented by the Grove Press issue, entitled 'Harriet Marwood, Governess' which omits all of the M/F erotic flagellation, and M/F sexual activity in general, and that represented by the Masquerade edition under the title 'The English Governess', which does not. There are also minor differences in the F/M aspects of the plot, specifically concerning the humiliation of the adolescent Richard by his governess. The more complete version is one of the real classics of F/M flagellation erotica, and in fact its appeal is broader than this, appealing also to devotees of the M/F subdivision of the genre. It concerns Richard’s taking in hand and his training to submission. His father and his father’s paramour are complicit, with erotic distractions of their own, and the book details his (sometimes painful) progress under his Governess’ severe thrall until their eventual marriage. The book appears to have been written by John Glassco, and some editions are under the pseudonym Miles Underwood, although its authorship is more usually anonymous. Clifford Dorset 2012