A collection of 58 British "telephone cards" advertising sexual services (c.1970s/80s). Most of the cards are illustrated and printed on card stock (3" x 5"). The majority relate to heterosexual encounters, but a number advertise homosexual and transexual encounters. The practice of placing these cards in public phone booths was common in the 1980s but was eventually outlawed by the Criminal Justice And Police Act of 2001. All are in very good condition. More
Mexico City: American Trade Magazine SA (2005). 64pp. An example of the uncommon Mexican gay magazine. Very good in stapled wrappers. More
New York: Anderson Galleries (6,7 December 1920). Interestingly, this is likely the first known auction record for a copy of Edward Prime Stevenson's (Xavier Mayne) Imre: A Memorandum. The cataloguer notes the book is "very rare" and is bound with a number of other works by George Barlow and Francis Swiney. Also included are a number of important works, including works by Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds. Very good in wrappers, light loss to spine. More
New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1904. Very good with light wear and sunning to spine, a bit of spotting throughout, previous owner's ink stamp on endpaper. More
Stuttgart, Dick & Co. Sportverlag, s.d. [circa], 1925. One of several illustrated books by Suren, this a guide to self-massage of the male body. Illustrated with 14 male nude photographs. Good in lightly worn wrappers. More
W. H. Allen, London 1970. An amusing novel peopled with a menagerie of eccentric expatriates. The author lived in Tangier for many years and he was no doubt inspired by his oddball acquaintances. Very good in very good jacket, light wear to edges, severl small penned notes on rear pastedown, bookplate of fellow expat R. Hudson Smith on front free endpaper. Uncommon. More
An original pen and ink drawing by Pavel Tchelitchew of a standing partially nude Spahi with arms raised. The artist created several works using similar imagery, most likely in the early 1930s when he was living in Paris. These French colonial light cavalry soldiers typically wore a white burnous along with a red cloak. Several similar examples are found in The Homoerotic Art of Pavel Tchelitchev (1999). From the collection of Tchelitchew's sister Choura Tchelitchew (Alexandra Zaoussailoff) with studio stamp "P. Tchelitchew" on verso. Very good with light wear and a few stray marks. (10" x 18"). More
London: Fortune Press (1929). 4to. A fourteen page essay with seventeen illustrations by Egan, who is remembered as one of the early British exponents of Art Deco. Several of the images allude to Wildean characters. One of the images was condemned in the publisher's 1934 obscenity trial and later replaced with another image. See Smith, R.A. Caton and the Fortune Press Very goood in plum colored buckram, original decorative jacket present (light rubbing and a bit dulled). One of 1600 copies issued. More
London : Samuel French, Ltd. (1930). 98pp. "A practical manual for the professional or aspiring make-up artist, covering all aspects of theatrical and "filmic" work. Included techniques for creating a number of different racial stereotypes." Very good, covers lightly scuffed, small penned signature on front endpaper, tissue overlays intact. Uncommon. More
Reims: Michaud (1912). 4to., 85pp. This collection of the eccentric poet's work is dedicated to his long-time partner, Nino Cesarini (1889-1943), who posed for Hocker, Brunelleschi, and Jerace in his youth.This copy bears a printed dedication to the composer Hermann Bemberg and is lavishly inscribed by Fersen to the gay actor and socialite, Germain d'Esparbès. Bound in original limp paper covers, Brisset's sixteen delicate engraved chapter-head vignettes are all colorful Greek inspired scenes. Browning to edges, spine a bit wrinkled. More
Paris: L'Arbalète (1955). The author's most well known publication, which originally appeared in 1944. This, the second editions bears a delightful cover photograph of the Mouloudji brothers taken in 1935. Inscribed by the author on endpaper. Very good in wrappers, lightly penned insignia on cover. More
Paris: Inversions (15 Dec.1924). Issue 1 #2. 4to. An example of the extremely rare magazine dedicated to homosexual issues in France. Although Fersen's journal Akademos is often cited as the first gay journal, Inversions (and its successor L'Amitie) were far more explicit in their open treatment of gay issues. The editors were not part of Parisian literary circles, but managed to obtain contributions from some of the most forceful proponents of homosexual rights. Four issues of the magazine were produced before formal complaints were made about its content (one objector called it an "official review of pederasty, which clearly proclaims its ignoble program") which lead to an official prosecution. In April of 1925, the magazine changed its name to L'Amitie in an effort to forestall the prosecution, but the principals were eventually convicted of "d'outrage aux bonnes mœurs et de propagation de méthodes anticonceptionnelles" and the two editors were incarcerated for three months. The magazines were printed on inexpensive acidic paper and as a consequence deteriorated rapidly and rarely appear in commerce. Essays by Edouard Oscar Puttman, Peter Hamecher, Caesarion, among others. Very good in wrappers, one small closed tear, pages uncut, browning to edges. More
Verona: Privately printed for Lucia Moreira Salles (2008). 4to. 174pp. A selection of important Wilde material from the Lucia Moreira Salles collection at the Pierpont Morgan Library. One of 525 copies (#132) printed in Verona by the Stamperia Valdonega. The facsimiles have been reproduced on various papers to match the original documents Boxed and bound in Tyrian purple, after Wilde's choice of binding for the first edition of his play Salomé. Wilde's signature embossed on rear cover. Signed by Salles and Mervyn Holland, who contributed the Introduction and notes. Very good, box has light wear a light fading. More
Paris: Gallimard (1981). Written in Naples in 1925, this novella tells the story of a pious noble family in the Counter-Reformation. One of 100 copies (#53) very good in black wrappers, very light edgewear. More
Paris: Arcam (1977). 4to. Puccio's erotic symbolist drawings are inspired by Jean Lorrain's writings and include a chapter entitled 'Le Masque d'Antinoüs." An uncommon book, with an Introduction by Philippe Jullian. Very good in stiff decorative wrappers, light wear to spine. $75. More
Paris: Maloine(1896) 363pp. Raffalovich's landmark study of homosexuality which created a furor in the medical establishment when it appeared. Raffalovich wrote the book to condemn what he considered the "fatuous" French medical opinion about sexual inversion, which concluded that male "inverts" were effeminate degenerates. The idea was so preposterous to Raffalovich that he coined a new term, "unisexuality," for sexual attraction between men. Very good in original green boards (the first state of the book, as issued) with light wear to spine and boards, bumping to corners. More
Original vintage male nude photograph by an unknown photographer from the estate of Jared French's heir, Roberto Giannata. The image was part of a large collection of images collected by French, which included numerous images by George Platt Lynes, PaJaMa (Paul Cadmus, Jared French and Margared French) which are now in the collection of the Beinecke Library at Yale. The photograph (4" x 5.5") is mounted to a board (4" x 5") and is unsigned. More
Paris: Heugel & Cie (1897). Léon Delafosse (1874 – 1951) was a French composer and pianist, generally considered the model for the character of Charles Morel, a violinist portrayed in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time. He had been an intimate in the Proust/Montesquiou circle and had his portrait painted by John Singer Sargent. The dedication copy, inscribed by Delafosse to Countess Emanuela Potocka, born Princess Emanuela Pignatelli di Cerchiara (1852–1930), whose fashionable salons in Paris attracted Proust, Maupassant, Barrès, Bourget, Robert de Montesquiou, Reynaldo Hahn, among others. Very good in lightly faded wrappers, bound with Grieg, Chansons d'Enfants. (Heugel, Paris, [1895]) and Rollinat, Rondels & Rondeaux. Henry Lemoine, Paris, [1883] in a worn red buckram and leather binding with the intials "M.P" stamped in gilt on cover, marbled endpapers. There is also a calligraphed inscription on front endpaper- "A Madame la Comtesse Potocka." More
Paris: Charles Carrington (1902). 354 pp. An unusually nice copy of this erotic work published by Carrington. Limited edition of 750 copies (#262) on Hollande laid paper. Uncommon, absent from Pia and Dutel. Light wear to edges. More
Beatriz Delgado (1900-1993) was a highly acclaimed Portuguese poet, columnist, lecturer, and actress in the first decades of the 20th century in Portugal and Brazil. A contemporary of Judith Teixeira, Delgado openly explored themes of love, desire, and female sexuality, themes which were considered extremely transgressive during the Salazar era. Very good in wrappers, a bit of spotting to wrappers. More
Stockholm: Natur och Kultur (1949). 238pp. 2nd. ed. Hallbeck's debut novel about youthful desire, social vulnerability and male prostitution in 1940s Stockholm. The author wrote a number of gay works, several of which were translated into English. Very good in wrappers, slight puckering to spine, modest edge wear at edges and tale of spine. Uncommon, with only one example in US libraries. More
Berlin: Schwules Museum, Verlag Rosa Winkel (1999). 56pp. Heavily illustrated exhibition catalog of the history of the long-running Swiss gay magazine. Works by Jean Boullet, Rene Bolliger, Arax, George Platt Lynes, Chuck Renzlow, Quaintance, among others. Fine in stapled wrappers. More
A particularly nice vintage studio portrait of Jared French taken by Van Vechten (8"x 10") circa 1939. This gelatin silver print of French was one of a series taken by Van Vechten in the late 1930s and resembles another image by the photographer of Gertrude Stein, also posed in front of the American flag. The photographer's blind stamp at bottom right and printed stamp on verso (along with a notation in Van Vechten's hand- "VII 0:5"). From the estate of French's lover, Roberto Gianatta. More
London. (2017). Essays published to mark the exhibtion of Mollino's work. Fine in decorative wrappers, two photographs tipped-in. One of 100 copies (#50) bound in hand-stitched marbled wrappers. More
New York: Albondocani Press (1987). 20pp. Previously unpublished Francoeur story about a young man's fixation on his deceased mother's pearl necklace. One of 150 copies (#58) signed by the author. Laid in is the prospectus from the Albondocani Press. Very good in sewn marbled wrappers. More