According to Steven Marcus, it is virtually the only source for information on London’s houses of prostitution, in which Walter spent many hours. Ashbee was also identified as Walter by May 2000, Channel 4 documentary on British TV, Walter: The Secret Life of a Victorian Pornographer – and in 2001 Ian Gibson’s The Erotomaniac: the secret life of Henry Spencer Ashbee provided a detailed review of circumstantial evidence arguing that Ashbee wrote My Secret Life, presumably weaving fantasy and anecdotes from friends in with his own real-life experiences. The more I read it, the more marvelous it seemed. Out of the aforesaid collection, presenting an amazing account which was first published in 1888, My Secret Life, by “Walter”, is the memoir of a gentleman. Two years before he died, he gave me a huge parcel carefully tied up and sealed.
