A title guaranteed to attract a certain readership, The New Ladies’ Tickler, Or, The Adventures of Lady Lovesport and The Audacious Harry was written by James Campbell and published in London in 1866 by the notoriously daring clandestine publisher William Dugdale. Dugdale’s publishing career spans from at least 1824 – although possibly even earlier – until 1867, with long spans of what appears to be inactivity after 1828, most likely because Dugdale was incarcerated many times for his activities. The English version was illustrated with eight coloured lithographs from designs by Edward Sellon.

A decade or so later a French translation of the rather predictable spanking-heavy text appeared, with these six engravings by Frédillo which were more risqué than the originals. Given that The New Ladies’ Tickler is quintessentially a narrative about the ‘English vice’, the lack of spanking in the Frédillo illustrations strongly suggests that they were not created specifically for this text.