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These fictions sold thousands of copies because they resonated with a public that secretly longed for their own transformations. How many Victorian clerks, reading of Jekyll’s potion, wished for a single night as Mr. Hyde? The Chronicles of Peculiar Desires in the Briti...
In the 19th century, upper-class British men could not openly discuss desire, but they could collect. And collect they did. The British Museum’s early acquisitions from sites like Ephesus and Pompeii included fragments of phallic imagery, erotic lamps, and frescoes from the cubicula of Roman brothels. These objects were catalogued under euphemisms ("ritual objects," "fertility charms") and stored in the "Secret Museum"—a locked cabinet accessible only by special permission. – You might be thinking of: These fictions