In the original dustsheet. Maroon cloth binding with silver title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

Pleasure: agreeable emotions; gratification of the senses or of the mind; sensuality; dissipation; a source of gratification; what the will prefers. Pleasure-pain principle: the principle that dominates the instincts, directing one’s behaviour towards seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Sin City is as much a book about human nature and its darkest sides as it is a history of lascivious vice – deviant sex, drugs, parties, greed, gambling and voyeuristic pleasure…Bettany Hughes takes London as a microcosm for the UK as a whole and explores the depths of our excess from Roman times through to the present day. Sin City is a fascinating and eye-opening trip through the ages. From Roman orgies to bestiality, from drugs to all-night Victorian raves, Bettany Hughes uncovers some seriously deviant behaviour, as well as demonstrating that some things never change.

Review: Sin City is as much about human nature and its darkest sides as it is a history of vice. Giles Emerson evokes the rough and tumble of the streets, the moral constraints of the times and how these were generally and often flagrantly ignored. There is also particular emphasis on the effects of the coming of Christianity at the end of the sixth century on the way that people behaved and the way they enjoyed themselves – i.e. the introduction of the concept of sin itself. The theme of pleasure and excess is described against a context of outrageous poverty and deeply non-PC behaviour to women, servants, animals, minority groups and the common order.

Sin City uses London as an illustration for the UK as a whole and explores the depths of our excesses.

Giles Emerson is a professional writer: Sin City – London in pursuit of pleasure is Giles sexual romp from Roman City of Londinium through to the end of the Victorian era, this book relates a pageant of political incorrectness. It shows that, no matter how shocking we may consider some contemporary behaviour, it is nothing new. A book about sex and circuses that takes you to the thick of the action.

Giles states: ‘I have huge experience as a professional writer and editor working for business and government in just about every media. You’ll find me editing a major corporation’s annual report, writing a speech for a CEO, producing a series of case studies, devising and putting together a strategic white paper involving many different stakeholders, or writing an article about business language for a national newspaper. My determination is to make the message clear and direct it to the right audience. It is perhaps not surprising how many people agree this is important and just how few people actually know how to do this. These days, with so many different channels including an interesting mix of social media, it is easy for messages and audiences to become part of a general mist somewhere out in the ether. I help clients direct their thinking and make their writing work for them – and the larger the company the more this involves internal as much as external communications.’