The Farce Of Sodom

The Farce of Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, is now infamous as the first piece of erotic literature written in the English language. Written circa 1672, it was considered so obscene (obscene even by today’s standard) posthumous printings of The Farce of Sodom were ordered to be destroyed after prosecutions for obscenity led to jailings of the printers themselves. In 2004 one of the few surviving copies of The Farce of Sodom was sold at auction by Sotheby’s for £45,600. The Farce of Sodom describes a king much like the reigning monarch of the day, Charles II, who made no secret of his personal preference for the act of sodomy, and represents a satirical portrayal of the public opinion of the time into the king's real motive in pushing for religious toleration. The author, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647 – 1680) was an English philanderer, friend of King Charles II, writer of satirical, bawdy poetry, and the character made famous by Johnny Depp in the movie ‘The Libertine’. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts. He married an heiress, Elizabeth Malet, and had many mistresses, including the actress Elizabeth Barry. Rochester's life was divided between domesticity in the country and a riotous existence at court, where he was renowned for his drunkenness, vivacious conversation, and "extravagant frolics" as part of the infamous Merry Gang. Restored here from one of the few remaining copies by SJ Hills, an authority on Restoration drama.