First of its Kind

I came across this piece of information through a strange path. I was reading Norman Lewis' 'Better English' in which he was trying to explain adjective with an example, 'obscene book'. He also gave an example for an obscene book and it was John Cleland's Fanny Hill (though 'Better English' mentions the name as Samuel Cleland by mistake).

There are many interesting things about this man, John Cleland. His novel, 'Fanny Hill' (or, 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'), was actually the first of its kind, i.e., the first pornographic novel in English. It was published in two installments in 1748 and 1749. Not surprisingly the novel was banned immediately at that time. He then attempted to publish few more novels with less erotic content, but they were not up to the 'standard' of Fanny Hill. As the story goes, John Cleland was offered a life time pension by the British Empire on a condition that he should stop writing!

Interestingly John Cleland has served as a soldier in East India Company and lived in Mumbai for about twelve years. He has written the novel, Fanny Hill, during his stay in Mumbai. Another interesting fact was that he remained a bachelor till death.