Lillian Maxine Serett
American writer
Lillian Maxine Serett (1924–1994), also known as Maxine Sanini and Maxine Savant, born Lillian Maxine Harrison in Groveton, Texas, January 28, 1924, was an author and lecturer on sex and sex techniques. She is best known as the author of The Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity. When she was 36 and wrote the book, her legal name was Lillian Maxine Savant, but she wrote under the pseudonym of "Rey Anthony". Advertisements for the book were deemed obscene leading to the court case Ginzburg v. United States, in which the book's publisher, Ralph Ginzburg was prosecuted and served six months in federal prison for publishing the book. Savant, the author, was never prosecuted. "Maxine Serett" was an assumed name she took on only for the trial. At the time of her death from a heart attack at age 70 in Pasadena, Texas, she had been using the assumed name Maxine Sanini for more than two decades. An ebook of Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity, subtitled Definitive Edition, edited by Toni Savant, one of Serett's five daughters, and containing a biography of the author, was published and posted on Amazon.com on May 26, 2012.
References
Time article on the case from 1963 which gives her name as Lillian Maxine Serett, apparently unaware that her legal name was Lillian Maxine Savant.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lillian Maxine Serett” is american writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lillian, Maxine and Serett, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american writer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6548170. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 1994, 2012 and 1963.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lillian Maxine Serett”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lillian Maxine Serett primary sources, Lillian Maxine Serett archive and Lillian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lillian Maxine Serett”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lillian Maxine Serett” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.