Orchidelirium: Book 1

By Helena Holywell

Dear Reader, please find enclosed the Pamphlet you requested, commencing Winter in the Year of our Lord 1856, and covering the stories and correspondence of those Characters involved in what became known so fondly known to many as the Orchidelirium Affair. Book 1 features those first letters between the responsible parties and are the best place to begin to understand the entire sordid affair, leading swiftly to the details of the saga: the cavalier plans of the bachelor rake known as William Wellesley, his father the Viscount, their family doctor Silas Osgoode... and a host of impressionable young ingenues and sophisticated lovers who cross their paths. Be warned the stories herein are laden with filth—Do Pray, secret Friend, that we are not intercepted in the interim by the authorities for the publication of such obscene material. Queen Victoria herself would sign the orders for the hanging should we caught out spreading this vulgar tale. Signed, your brave servant and scribe, Helena Holywell

• Language: English
• Publisher: MysterionMedia
• Release date: Mar 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463762561

Helena Holywell

Helena Holywell is from Blackpool, England, and also makes home in Boston for part of the year. She studied Victorian and Edwardian literature at university, and there discovered a passion for the seamier, filthier side of the forbidden two-penny “pamphlets” that were sold in dark corners of London, introducing the working class to the written word via erotic tales.

Book preview

Orchidelirium: Book 1

Helena Holywell

Copyright 2020 Helena Holywell

Published by Mysterion Media at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Letters Between Friends

Chapter 2: The Good Doctor Considers His Assignment

Chapter 3: A Secret Spectator

Chapter 4: Dinner with the Viscount

Chapter 5: A Messenger Arrives

Chapter 6: A Message Delivered

Preface

Dear Reader,

Please find enclosed the Pamphlet you requested, commencing Winter in the Year of our Lord 1856, and covering the stories and correspondence of those Characters involved in what became known so fondly known to many as the Orchidelirium Affair.

Chapter 1 features those first letters between the responsible parties and are the best place to begin to understand the entire sordid affair.

Other Chapters shall follow shortly, and be warned! they are laden with filth—

Til then, do Pray, secret Friend, that we are not intercepted in the interim by the authorities for the publication of such obscene material. Queen Victoria herself would sign the orders for the hanging should we caught out spreading this vulgar tale.

Your brave servants,

The publishers of Holywell Street

Chapter 1: Letters Between Friends

Dear Sir,

I cannot fully relay the excitement with which I greet you now — with urgent news of the most wonderful kind. My only regret at this moment is not delivering this message by my own hand to your door. I look forward to the day when the sun may shine gently on us together, perhaps over a quaff of the claret wine that I know your gentle taste does favor.

It is my true pleasure to relay that the package over which we exchanged tender correspondence last month is now safely invested to my care. The journey had been rather a long one, as you surely recall. We did both walk the floor on many nights of frantic worry, did we not!

Yet Mme. Alphonse has certainly proven a true and obedient servant, and will be suitably rewarded for the successful delivery of her charge. As I write, the goods are being reviewed for condition and necessary repair after so many weeks at sea.

I beg you rest well to-night, knowing that our mutual interest is securely in its rightful place. By all early accounts, the risk that caused such flutter of the stomach, will soon cause