MAGDALEN FACTS. No. 1. NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1832 [all published].

[McDowall, John R.]:

Edité par New York: Printed for the Author, 1832.

A propos de cet article

An important, early American work on the negative effects of prostitution centering on the "fallen women" of the Female Penitentiary of the County and City of New York at Bellevue. The author, John R. McDowall, established the first and very short-lived Magdalen Society in New York in 1830, modeled after the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia which was founded thirty years earlier. McDowall was a Princeton-educated theologian and crusader against the ills of prostitution, and set up at Five Points in New York City in 1830 to assist the American Tract Society with educating the "unfortunate females" of Bellevue and New York City in "Sabbath Schools." The text presents facts relative to the success of his venture, and is divided into thirty-four "Articles" or chapters. The titles of these chapters include "The Abandoned - their moral character," "A Vicious Woman," "Magdalens - their prospects," "The Suicide," and "House of Refuge in New York," among others. McDowall also includes passages on the various Magdalen Society branches and similar organizations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, London, and "The Life and Appeal of a Georgia Magdalen, by herself." About half of the articles are intentionally sad or brutal stories about the dangers and consequences of reckless sexual behavior, designed both to discourage promiscuity and scare young women straight. In one chapter, titled "Two Females," two young women are forced into a life of sex slavery by an African-American captor who keeps the girls in the "rear apartment of his cellar." The front wrapper and titlepage include two woodcuts of the Female Penitentiary of the County and City of New York at Bellevue - an exterior of the building and an interior view of the "Night Rooms Without Beds" where "between 100 and 300 women in the prison sleep.giving from twenty to sixty women to each room." The last page prints the sheet music to a hymn called "The Magdalen" by the Rev. Philip Hawker of Plymouth, England. The rear wrapper prints the text of the CONSTITUTION OF THE MAGDALEN SOCIETY. for use by auxiliary branches. Article 2 states that "The immediate object of this society is the moral, intellectual, and domestic improvement of the female character." Sadly, by the time the present work was published, the Magdalen Society had ceased operations, so McDowall published MAGDALEN FACTS at his own considerable cost. He soon found himself in tremendous debt, and had to rely on help from charitable societies himself to make ends meet, along with defending himself against vocal and virulent critics who disagreed with his methods. He continued to rail against "licentiousness" with the publication of McDOWALL'S JOURNAL in 1833, and published several articles in notable New York area newspapers which were reprinted in publications across the United States. He could never escape his critics, who ridiculed McDowall for his interest in prostitutes and even began to accuse him of encouraging licentiousness by publicizing it. Exhausted by the controversies, McDowall died young in 1836. A scarce pamphlet with fewer than twenty copies in institutions, scattered over a handful of records in OCLC. Only four copies of the work have appeared at auction since 1886. Original pictorial wrappers. Front wrapper chipped in foredge, just touching the central image, spine chipped, small repaired marginal tear on rear wrapper. Scattered moderate foxing. About very good. Untrimmed.

N° de réf. du vendeur 55316

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: MAGDALEN FACTS. No. 1. NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1832 [all published].
• Éditeur: New York: Printed for the Author, 1832.