Rachel Holmes - The Hottentot Venus: The Life and Death of Sarah Baartman

Satirical engraving of Miss Ridsdale, Sartjee and Miss Harvey by William Heath, 1810, parodying three famous London courtesans Henriette Dubochet, her sister Fanny and her friend Julia Johnstone who were known at the time as The Three Graces. Speculations on Saartjies impressions of London became a popular subject for satire, offering an opportunity to poke fun at native English culture.

Unattributed cartoon, Paris, 1814, showing what Parisians regarded as another curiosity: Scots Guards, serving in the allied army of occupation. French audiences both feared and admired Saartjies distinctive difference, making her an instant success.

Saartjies state funeral, Hankey, Eastern Cape, 9 August 2002.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Scanty Particulars

also published as

The Secret Life of Dr James Barry

Eleanor Marx: A Life

Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

Gripping and meticulously researched Spectator

A compassionate account of her life Financial Times

Holmess engaged and engaging book seeks to disentangle the real woman from this web of interpretations ... Her research is impeccable ... In telling Baartmans extraordinary story, Holmess fascinating book illuminates the forces which dominated her age, and resound in our own Sunday Telegraph

Hers is a heartbreaking and important story Time Out

The most upsetting book I have read this year ... Holmes reconstructs this tragic life in its entirety ... with courage and sensitivity The Times

Holmes has done some excellent research not only into Saartjies background but also into the London of the times ... Holmes has been meticulous in filling in the political background as well as the pseudo-scientific research leading to the so-called theory of eugenics Irish Times

Holmess well-written account of Baartmans life and afterlife shows how an individual who led an extraordinary existence and was a symbol of her centurys tangled attitude towards sex, race and imperialism lives on Sunday Times

A lively biography of Saartjie Baartman, a South African curiosity who achieved celebrity in early nineteenth-century London Daily Telegraph Summer Reading Picks

In this first post-colonial biography of Baartman, Holmes uses Saartje throughout, but musters as much factual information as possible, telling her tale with care and respect Independent

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First published in Great Britain in 2007

This paperback edition published in 2020

This electronic edition published in 2020

Copyright Rachel Holmes, 2007

Rachel Holmes has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work

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And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.

Ezekiel 37.3

The story of Sarah Baartman is the story of the African people of our country in all their echelons.

President Thabo Mbeki

The rear end exists, I see no reason to be ashamed of it. Its true that there are rear ends so stupid, so pretentious, so insignificant, that theyre only good for sitting on.

Josephine Baker

I am a sex-o-matic Venus freak when Im with you.

Macy Gray

CONTENTS

Plates

Love and Beauty, caricature engraving by Charles Williams from 1811, published in 1822. (Bridgeman Images)

A crowded street in London (Grievances of London) by George Cruikshank. (Getty Images)

Coloured aquatint by Frederick Christian Lewis, published in March 1811, shortly before The Hottentot Venus went on tour. (British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

Prospects of Prosperity, political cartoon by Charles Williams, 1810. (British Museum)

The Three Graces, engraving by William Heath, 1810. (British Museum)

Les Curieux en extase, unattributed cartoon, Paris, 1814. (Royal Museums Greenwich Picture Library)

Saartjies state funeral, Hankey, Eastern Cape, 9 August 2002. (