Holywell Street

English +, London Etymology Named after one of the local holy wells, “the sweet and sacred waters of St Clements Church that still survives on the Strand today, and gave Holywell Street its nickname of the Backside of St Clements”.Alex Cochrane Lost London: a Victorian Street for Friggers and Radicals Unofficial Britain https://web.archive.org/web/20151230171112/http://www.unofficialbritain.com/lost-london-a-victorian-street-for-friggers-and-radicals/ 15 June 2015. Proper noun Holywell Street en historical A former street in central London, famed for selling pornography in Victorian times. en 1857 William Acton Prostitution considered in its moral, social, and sanitary aspects https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Prostitution_considered_in_its_moral_soc/XJsrHfQqL5sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Differing+from+many+Holywell-Street+books&pg=PA168&printsec=frontcover There are plenty of filthy books sold outside of Holywell-street, differing from many Holywell-street books, too, as having indecent insides as well as covers. en 1877 The Academy and Literature 12 https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Academy_and_Literature/_BocAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+Academy+and+Literature+volume+12&pg=PA25&printsec=frontcover 82 To impute to those who do not care for the Holywell Street literature of any time "the Puritanic squeamishness of an extremely moral undetected Tartuffe, acting as Aristarchus," is to be too zealous for unrighteousness. en https://books.google.com/books?id=1WoCAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Holywell%20Street%22&pg=PA902 w:Harper's New Monthly Magazine February 20, 1867 0017-789X w:Charles Dickens Letters of Charles Dickens to Wilkie Collins 1891 November 83 498 902 2 As regards a so-called critic who should decry such a book as Holywell Street literature, and the like, I should have merely to say of him that I could desire no stronger proof of his incapacity in, and his unfitness for, the post to which he has elected himself. en 1909 The Academy and Literature 75 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xNY2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA583&dq=%22a+Holywell+Street%22&redir_esc=y 583 Mr. Long's solicitor was careful to explain that “The Yoke” “is not a Holywell Street book.” We can only say for it that we defy Holywell Street to produce anything so foul. Holywell Street is a much cleaner street than it would be if it sold “The Yoke” References en Named roads Pornography