Particular mention is due the special library of the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, of which the author was librarian for four years (1948-1952). It should be made clear that the present study is unrelated to that of the Institute, does not reflect its views, and has not been approved by members of its staff. The librarian’s function was cataloguing, not sex research, and almost all of the material considered here was seen elsewhere. Nevertheless, acquaintance with what may be the largest extant library related to sex served to reassure the author that she had overlooked no important area of the field she wished to study. Gratitude is thus due also to the Institute and its Director, the late Dr. A. C. Kinsey. CONTENTS Foreword iii Preface v Acknowledgments vii Introduction 11 I. The Ancient Record Sappho and Ruth 17 Mythology in Classical Authors 24 Later Classical Literature 27 II. From the Dark Ages to the Age of Reason Introduction 30 Medieval and Renaissance Fiction 33 The Borderline of Reality 39 Neo-Classical Aridity 43 III. From the Romantics to the Moderns Introduction 51 Precursors of Modern Fiction 54 The Novel Before 1870 60 Evidence from Poets 72 IV. Later Nineteenth Century Fertility in France 81 Shadow of Feminism 91 Fin de Siècle 99 Summary 114 V. Conjectural Retrospect 116 Louise Labé 117 Charlotte Charke 120 “The Ladies of Llangollen” 122 Karoline von Günderode 124 George Sand 127 Emily Brontë 129 George Eliot 135 Margaret Fuller 136 Adah Isaacs Menken 138 “Michael Field” 141 Emily Dickinson 145 VI. Twentieth Century Introduction 149