Magazine
-
Skink Magazine: The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #6
And so we return to some gimp masks courtesy of everyone’s favourite BDSM Catalogue Skink! On a more serious note, as 2023 yawns its last wheezy breath we would like to thank all of our members, friends, staff, collaborators, donors, followers, likers, sharers, supporters, blog readers (especially our blog readers–you guys rock!), those who’ve been…
-
Skink Magazine: The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #5
We have seen the Victorian obsession with death before in other collections. It’s not difficult to understand why it existed. Medical science was still at a stage where the routine illnesses of today could have been certain death 130 years ago. The child mortality rate was abysmal and the life expectancy in England for a…
-
Skink Magazine: The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #4
These photographs were taken last year by a private collector of Victorian ‘love maids’. We are thankful to them for allowing us to archive the images here. These dolls were referenced in the classified section of Skink. They asked people to write to the Southern Exchange (abbreviated to SEX) for more information. It is a…
-
Victorian Hoax Photography Collection #6 (Flying Monsters Edition Part #3)
“Who on God’s Earth is responsible for this?” screamed the Penny Rotten Paper and Illustrated Times headline. It was printed alongside the cartoon in photograph #10. Nobody really knew the answer to this until many years later. The majority of people surveyed in the 1860s believed it was something to do with the paranormal; the…
-
A Day Out at Louse Park of Lancaster Collection #3
The Queen Victoria Moth House, situated on the grounds of Louse Park, was undoubtedly the most popular photography location for visitors. The ladies were often seen forming huge queues to enter the moth house alone and have their photos taken by one of Mr Bailey’s apprentices. As you can see from this collection, the results…
-
A Day Out at Louse Park of Lancaster Collection #2
Maxwell Bailey was a professional photographer specialising in artistic portraits. Every Sunday he would visit Louse Park which was part of Lord Arthur Allen’s estate; an important figure in 19th century zoology. The park was themed to Lord Allen’s specialist area which was, surprise surprise, insects (although it should be noted that Lord Allen never…
-
Skink Magazine; The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #3
Today we archive more of the photography found in the only Victorian kink magazine we are aware of. This time we wanted to show another theme running through the pages. We would like to say that this is where the Spiderman franchise got its superhero costume ideas from, but that would potentially land us in…
-
Skink Magazine; The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #2
As you can see from this collection, the craftsmanship that went into the masks and costumes is second to none. It’s almost as if they were wasted given that they were essentially used as private bedroom props. Disclaimer: you may be unsurprised to learn that none of the staff at TVUP are versed in BDSM…
-
Skink Magazine; The Victorian BDSM Catalogue Collection #1
When we think about the Victorians, we tend to focus on the stuffy and inflexible norms we find among polite society. No foul language, no bad manners and certainly no kink. But dig only a few inches deeper and we find that this was only part of the story. Although often well hidden, there were…
-
The Fat Wives’ Club
Historical attitudes towards portly people, particularly women, have ebbed and flowed over millennia. To a lesser degree, leaner people have also been a subject of derision. It’s almost impossible to find examples of societies where attitudes had made peace with weight diversity– including ours. During the latter half of the Victorian era, a school of…
Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project 