Charles Carrington (1857–1921) was a leading British publisher of erotica in late-19th- and early-20th-century Europe. Born Paul Harry Ferdinando in Bethnal Green, England on 11 November 1867, he moved in 1895 from London to Paris[1] where he published and sold books in the rue Faubourg Montmartre and rue de Chateaudun; for a short period he moved his activities to Brussels. Carrington also published works of classical literature, including the first English translation of Aristophanes' "Comedies," and books by famous authors such as Oscar Wilde and Anatole France, in order to hide his "undercover" erotica publications under a veil of legitimacy. His books featured the erotic art of Martin van Maële. He published a French series La Flagellation a Travers le Monde mainly on English flagellation, identifying it as an English predilection.[2]
Carrington went blind as a result of syphilis and the last few years of his life were spent in poverty as his mistress stole his valuable collection of rare books. He was placed in a lunatic asylum and died in 1921 at Ivry-sur-Seine, France.
- ^ Deana Heath (2010). Purifying Empire: Obscenity and the Politics of Moral Regulation in Britain, India and Australia. Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-521-19435-8.
- ^ Sigel, Lisa Z. (2005). International exposure: perspectives on modern European pornography, 1800-2000. Rutgers University Press. p. 89. ISBN 0-8135-3519-0.