Inquiring minds want to know: What is a ‘Pocket Venus’ and when did the term come into use?

The term ‘Pocket Venus’ is often used in Regency and other romance genres to describe a short young woman who has perfect curves but in “miniature”. Kathryn Kane, in a posting on The Regency Redingote attests that this term has its origin in the mid-eighteenth century. (March 18, 2011.) Etymonline has quite a lot to say about the word “pocket” as both noun and adjective. (https://www.etymonline.com/word/pocket)

The word “pocket” as a noun has a long history. It can be traced back to German and French words in the 13th century to describe a small bag. In the 1580s we find the phrase, “to place in a pocket or in one’s pocket” which had the implication of appropriating something for one’s own use. often with implications of dishonesty, “to appropriate to one’s self or for one’s own use”), From this come the later terms “deep pockets” and its opposite, “pockets-to-let.”

The term “pocket money” seems to pop up around 1630. Once the word “pocket” as an adjective was out of the bag, so to speak, it began to be used in a variety of ways. (The phrase, “let the cat out of the bag” is also of somewhat ancient origin and will be the topic of another musing.) The term “pocket handkerchief” can be traced to the 1640’s. “Pocket Venus” reportedly appears around 1808, although I have yet to find documentation of this.

In Regency times, we find the term “pocket borough” in use by 1798. A pocket borough was a very small voting district under the control of one particular person or family. The term “rotten borough” is a synonym. The practice of controlling votes in the House of Commons in this way was technically outlawed by The Reform Act of 1832. However, there is a reference to pocket boroughs in Gilbert and Sullivan’s first work, “H.M.S. Pinafore, which premiered in 1878. The First Lord of the Admiralty, in explaining how he rose to his high rank sings,

“I grew so rich that I was sent

By a pocket borough into Parliament.

I always voted at my party’s call,

And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.”

In 1878, pocket boroughs may have been outlawed in England, but they were obviously still known as an important factor in British politics. Another legislative term using the term “pocket” is the phrase “pocket veto.” This is an American term that refers to a situation in which a bill fails to become law because the president does not sign it within the mandatory ten-day period and the bill cannot be returned to Congress for adjustments because Congress is no longer in session.

Getting back to our “Pocket Venus.” The work of describing characters is difficult. How much description is needed to make the character walk off the page and into the heart of the reader? When it comes to describing female characters, the term “Pocket Venus” is a lovely, short term which easily brings the character to life. However, how many “Pocket Venuses” can one present in one story? A village of Pocket Venuses? That could be an interesting story!