. [California 1989-1990]. Boy with Arms Akimbo. [California 1989-1900]. A group of material from this anonymous AIDS activist collective working in and around the Bay Area from 1989-1992. Taking a more provocative and confrontational stance than many other activist groups, they used guerilla art tactics to promote a pro-queer-sex message in the wake of Jesse Helms’ 1988 amendment banning federal funding for AIDs education programs. More than 4000 posters (several documented here) were pasted around San Francisco by BWAA and their work spread throughout the country. An early adopter of DIY and anti-copyright aesthetics, the encouraged appropriation of their texts, projects and iconography- including their eponymous logo. As the Queer Cultural Center noted when they included BWAA in their 2011 Queer it Yourself exhibition: “The group also welcomed and documented the informal contributions of passerby who improved, defaced or otherwise modified its street graphics.” Included are: Sheet of 10 “Sex is /Just Sex” stickers; One 57.7 x 43 cm poster for a Canadian Micah Lexier exhibition poster on newsprint prominently reproducing the Boy With Arms Akimbo motif; Five double weight gelatin BW photographs, one 10” x 8” , the others 16” x 20” (with one duplicate, but processed at a different exposure with different parts of detail shown) all showing various interventions at (and on) the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco; A small (12pp) 16mo. Xerographically reproduced pamphlet Boy with Arms Akimbo: His Story (San Francisco: Healing Tales 1989). More

Paris: En vente chez tous les libraires, [1907-1911]. The quite rare first edition of this gay erotic novel, which had a political dimension in advocating freedom of sexual expression- "Qu’autrui nous laisse donc jouir en paix et qu’il jouisse lui-même en toute tranquillité..." Very good in marbled boards, wear at edges, wrappers not present. Quite rare, only three institutional copies noted. Perceau 296; Pia Enfer, 604; Dutel 398. More

Paris : Eugène Figuière (1925). More

Bruxelles (1942). 131pp. sm. 4to. A curiously uncommon edition of this erotic classic, illustrated with nine explicit images and eight chapter drawings, several of which are explicitly homosexual. One of 500 numbered copies, very good in wrappers, chemise and slipcase, which has some light cracking. The edition was issued for "subscribers only" but we can find, nor any indication of the identity of the illustrator. Apollinaire published the work in 1907, a fictional story of the Romanian hospodar Prince Vibescu Mony, in which the author explores all aspects of sexuality. The book has remained in print since its publication and has been translated into many languages. Dutel 2109. More

Paris: Lys rouge (1925). lg. 4to., 76pp. One of Jean Auscher's large quarto volumes illustrating the night life and dark side of Paris in the 1920s. An attractively produced volume printed by François Bernouard with ten provocatively decadent etchings by Auscher. This volume ("Bitterness") is a particularly brutal portrayal of drug addicts, drug addicts, "perverts" and other demimonde characters. One of 300 copies. More

Paris: Collection Précieuse (ND). 222pp. Another of Bandol's novels about modern sexual vices, with gay and lesbian content. Colorful frontispiece illustration seven additional un-attributed drawings in the text. The "Librairie Précieuse " sticker appears on the title page and spine covering the Librairie Artistique imprint, although the page counts on the two editions is not the same. Very good in original wrappers, wear to spine and covers and some pages roughly opened. Uncommon. More

London: The Golden Cockerel Press (1948). 4to. Hardcover. Lavishly produced volume with wood engravings by Clifford Webb. Very good in gilt-stamped morocco over boards, raised bands, gilt top, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. A very nice copy. #252 of 500 copies printed. O. More

London: Barrington (1970-71). Issues 1-4 of this short-lived publication, each limited to 250 copies. Barrington had been imprisoned for publishing pornography in the 1960s and issued these publications in a more limited way in order to avoid legal problems. Each issue contains images of male nudes printed on Barrington's lithography machine, bound in blue stapled wrappers. See Smith, Physique: The Life of John S. Barrington @184. Uncommon. More

Paris: Rollin et Feuardent (1902). 8vo. 32 plates. A quite rare catalog of coins and medals donated by Carlos de Beistegui to the French state. Beistegui assembled another collection later in life, also donated to the French state. Very good, but covers browned and spotted, stamps of the Encyclopédie Bénedictine throughout. Inscribed by Beistegui on front endpaper. Rare. More

Bourgoint and his sister were immortalized in Cocteau's classic Les Enfants Terribles as the troubled siblings whose relationship ended in disaster. Bourgoint was a member of Cocteau's close circle of friends, which included Berard, Maurice Sachs, Rene; Crevel and assorted others, many of whom were frequent users of opium. He later befriended Jacques Maritain and eventually settled in Cameroun, where he worked in a leper colony. The image is approximately 8.5" x 11" and is in very good condition and bears the Bourgoint ownership stamp. Although unsigned by Berard, the images is one of a series by the artist assembled by Bourgoint and sold in Paris in 1966. Henri Sauguet wrote at that time: "Bourgoint, a vingt ans...etait l'ami de Christian Berard et de Cocteau, qui s'inspire de sa vie pour "Les Enfants Terribles." Il se lie d'amitie avec Sauguet, Maritain, Crevel, Benoist-Mechin, d'Astier de La Vigerie, Maurice Sachs, Jean Hugo, tout l'entourage de Cocteau l'accueille, le fete. Il dessine beaucoup, puis soudain, il abandonne Paris, passe un temps a la campagne chez Jean Hugo, puis en 1947, entre la Trappe de Citeaux, d'ou il part en Afrique soigner les lepreux. C'est au milieu d'eux qu'il vient mourir. Cette collection est emouvante on y trouve...un ensemble tres important de Berard. More

Tangier: Khbar Bladna (2009). Soft cover. More

Oxford: B.H. Blackwell (1892) 100pp. Bourdillon was a prolific poet and served as tutor to the sons of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein at Cumberland Lodge for several years. He published thirteen collections of poetry between 1874 and 1921, as well as single poems and narrative verses, many of them anonymous and privately printed in limited editions. He is best-known today for the short poem “Light” (‘The night has a thousand eyes.”) Many of the poems demonstrate a distinct predeliction for fair haired boys. Very good in original wrappers, light wear, laid in is the prospectus for his Love Lies Bleeding. Rare in commerce. More

Hartford: Privately Printed (1925). Hardcover. Of an edition of 99 numbered copies, this example is one of an unknown number of special lettered copies, initialed by the editor with the notation "To Aid Britain". A near fine copy in 1/4 vellum and purple paper boards, bookplate of Anthony Reid (by Ralph Chubb) on front pastedown, light wear to corners. A lovely copy of an uncommon book. More