Lusty list sells for £5,000

A book containing details of London prostitutes in 1790 fetched £5,170 at auction this week.

Harris' List Of Covent Garden Ladies was written by Jack Harris, a waiter who doubled as a pimp.

Each entry lists the woman's looks and prices. Miss R-ss of Soho is described as 'as decent a lass a e'er you fixt your eyes on' while Miss D-g-m of Goodge Street is said to be 'rather short but inclined to be lusty'.

The entry adds: 'She has a little vixen in her.' The anonymous buyer paid four times the expected price at the London auction.