NP (1926). sm. 8vo. 367pp. Privately printed first edition of this classic gay novel, usually translated into English as "The Hustler." Der Puppenjunge is the first frank serious literary depiction of the life of a male prostitute, and of the world of the men who support them. The Scots-German anarchist, Mackay, wrote a number of theoretical works that generally appeared under his own name; he adopted the pseudonym "Sagitta" for the small number of defiantly gay novels and "sociological" discourses on the gay life for which he is best known. Der Puppenjunge was described by a contemporary reviewer as belonging "to the few books in the literature on 'our subject' that may raise a claim to art." Christopher Isherwood praised the novel, as well and wrote that "I have always loved this book dearly-despite and even because of its occasional sentimental absurdities." Thomas Riley, in his landmark study of Mackay, calls the novel "one of the strangest stories in modern literature." The novel was entirely financed by Mackay and printed in Holland. Very few of the books were sold in his lifetime and most were destroyed after his death. Very good in original blue cloth binding, lightly worn slipcase. (#433 of 500 copies). See, Schock, Das Buch der schwulen bücher; Tamagne, A History of Homosexuality in Europe @284; Hergemöller, B., Mann für Mann @ 481-82; Riley, T. Germany's Poet-Anarchist. More