First published in the middle of the 18th century - probably in 1749 - John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure has been in constant, though for the most part surreptitious, circulation ever since. Editions, often bearing the name of the book's heroine, Fanny Hill, have been printed in English not only in Great Britain and the United States but also on the continent of Europe, and the novel has been translated into a majority of the major European languages.

As has been the case with other frankly erotic novels, the text of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure has been altered, added to, and bowdlerized in various editions.