Publisher's Synopsis
Of all of John Cleland's novels, Memoirs of an Oxford Scholar is the one that has been suppressed for the longest time. The notorious Fanny Hill has been called the most famous banned book of all time and yet it has been more or less freely available to the interested reader since its initial publication in 1749. Memoirs of a Coxcomb, the sequel to Fanny Hill, has been similarly available. This edition of Memoirs of an Oxford Scholar will introduce readers to a ribald masterpiece too long suppressed and will add dimension to the already considerable reputation of its author, John Cleland. John Cleland (1709-1789) was educated at the Westminster School. He spent his early adulthood in Smyrna as British Consul and in India as an employee of the British East India Company. He later returned to England where he devoted himself to the study of philology, writing essays on the nature of language and contributing columns to the Public Advertiser.
