Prostitution, Considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects in London...

and other large cities and garrison towns with proposals for the control and prevention of its attendant evils.  London: John Churchill and Sons, 1870. Second Edition. Maroon cloth 8vo, 302pp. Good only with binding split at p. 160; hinges cracked but holding. Discoloration and bubbling to cloth. Previous owner's signature to pastedown. The first edition was published in 1857; this second edition includes updated charts and statistics through 1869. One of the first English texts to treat the subject from a medical and not just moral perspective, Acton advocates a pragmatic approach to the inextinguishable trade, emphasizing a need for regulation to protect public health and exploring its social causes and implications. He did not entirely avoid moralization, but offered a more nuanced appraisal and argued that the implicated women were not to be foresaken, but are "as worthy of improvement" as other criminals.