Collection of Ephemera Related to Harm Drenth, the “West Virginia Bluebeard” Killer

(True Crime) (Serial Killers) [Drenth, Harm]. Collection of Correspondence, Photographs, and Publications related to Harm Drenth, the “West Virginia Bluebeard” Killer, 1924-1932.

Dutch-born Harm Drenth (1892-1932), a.k.a. Herman Drenth; Harry Powers; and Cornelius O. Pierson, preyed on women he met through matrimonial correspondence agencies and lonely heart’s clubs in the 1920s and early 1930s. Claiming to be a wealthy civil engineer, he wooed widows across the US with expertly written love letters. After developing ardent postal relationships, he traveled to the women’s homes to continue his courtship. The lucky ones were robbed. The unlucky were tortured and killed.

In 1927, he married one of these correspondents, Louella Strother, under the alias Harry Powers. They settled in her hometown of Quiet Dell, West Virginia, where she owned a small grocery. Living as Mr. Powers, he continued his con from a post office box in nearby Clarksburg, receiving as many as 20 letters a day until August 1931. That month, two missing widows, Mrs. D. A. Lemke and Mrs. A. B. Eicher, and Mrs. Eicher’s three children, were traced to Quiet Dell through their correspondences, and found buried next to his “murder garage,” The women had been bound and gassed, while Drenth stood behind a plate glass window. In his confession he said the pleasure of watching them die “beat any cat house I was ever in.”

After his arrest he was accused in the disappearance of many other women, but lacking evidence, he was convicted only of the five Quiet Dell murders. He was hanged in 1932. His story became the basis for the celebrated film Night of the Hunter (1955), written by James Agee and starring Robert Mitchum.

This collection sheds new light on the sexual nature of Drenth’s crimes. While his own prurience is well-documented, current literature referencing his crimes makes no mention of the anachronistic sexual liberation he tried to foster in his victims. The present and otherwise unrecorded(?) contemporary pamphlet Love Secrets of Bluebeard, Containing the Famous ‘Unprintable’ Letter, describes these methods. Drenth’s house was full of “books dealing exclusively with sex. [...] He had books of love letters. [...] He knew how to arouse in a woman, by a slow, gradual system of building up of emotions, a great sexual longing in a woman…“ The pamphlet reproduces a lengthy “unprintable” letter from Drenth to one of his victims recommending a number of sex instruction books (copies of which he had sent previously, including Havelock Ellis). He tells his correspondent how to read them, encouraging her to take notes and ask questions. Emphasizing the importance of a healthy sex instinct, he suggests that she write her own sexual history and exchange it with him before they meet. Finally, he discusses the importance of foreplay for women’s pleasure in explicit detail.

This present group includes many items found among Drenth’s possessions at the time of his arrest and given to a local newspaper editor, Heister G. Rhawn by the District Attorney:

1. Two pp. undated template letter, written in pen by Drenth, apparently used for formulating his introductory letter to female pen-pals. Describing his appearance and his income, he writes “my wife can have anything, within reason, that money can buy.” He offers to exchange photos and closes with the request “Please write.” He signs C.O. Pierson (“‘Connie’ for short”), the alias under which he wooed and killed Mrs. Eicher.
2. 3x5 photograph of Drenth, of the type he used in his correspondence.
3. Eight postcards, 1924-1926, written by five different women and addressed to Drenth in Mansfield Ohio under various aliases (most Harry Powers).
4. Photo-postcard of Maud L. Johnson, of Fairfield, Ill., who disappeared in 1929, and was probably one of Drenth’s victims. Name and address written verso in Drenth’s hand?
5. Nine letters, 1926-1927, each 2-10 pp., written in ink by Drenth’s wife, Luella Strother. Sent before their marriage, they give a sense of the sexual tenor of his correspondence with his victims. Includes the first letter Strother wrote to Powers? One with annotations in Drenth’s hand, another faded, each will original paper-clips, some marking from rust. Handwriting clear, easily legible.
6. TLS to Mrs. D.A. Lamke [sic], dated Oct. 1927, from the New Home Club agency, “Cupid’s Headquarters.” Mrs. Lemke is notified that the club will have other members write directly to her. One of these ended up being Drenth [a.k.a. Harry Powers].

Together with a number of items assembled by Rhawn or his daughter, Harriette Rhawn Behringer:

1. TLS from Detroit Chief of Detectives, dated Sept. 1931, advising the Clarksburg police that Drenth/Powers had been supplied with 300 names per month by the American Friendship Society matrimonial agency.
2. Single page telegram from the Omaha World Herald, Aug. 1931., enquiring of the Clarksburg newspaper whether any of the letters discovered among Drenth’s papers were from Iowan women.
3. Two pp. wire service release, presumably from the Clarksburg paper, The Exponent(?), announcing Drenth’s execution. Badly toned, chipped, and separated where folded. Fair.
4. Charleston, West Virginia Gazette clipping, March 1932, covering execution of Powers. Folded, toned.
5. Two copies of an unrecorded contemporary pamphlet on the case: Love Secrets of Bluebeard, Containing the Famous “Unprintable” Letter [title from cover]. Np. Nd. (ca. 1931-1932, before the execution). 8vo, 14 pp., illus. Pictorial yellow wrappers worn.
6. Clipping of a retrospective article on the case, published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, March 1967.
7. Stapled pieces of an undated, redacted TLS from Behringer explaining her father’s relationship to the case and offering the materials for sale.

La Lotta Contro La Prostitutzione

Pannain, Remo. La Lotta Contro La Prostitutzione. Benevenuto: Borelli, n.d., ca. 1929. 8vo, 28 pp.; a few pencil marks in margin; in printed stapled wrapper.

Unusual legal treatise published in Southern Italy about the struggle there against prostitution.

No North American holdings recorded in OCLC.

$95

Archive of Drag Performer Burma Taylor (1929-2004)

(Drag) (Transgender) Archive of Drag Performer Burma Taylor (1929-2004), a.k.a. BeBe Taylor, a.k.a. Gene “Gary” Garra. Approximately 440 photographs (some altered or collaged), hundreds of reproduced fashion and erotic illustrations, newspaper clippings, handbills, and misc. drag ephemera, pasted in two elephant folio scrapbooks [24-½ x 19-½ in. and 23 x 19 in.], together with 34 homoerotic drawings by Taylor, loose. Regarding the linguistic framework of this description, when referring to Burma/BeBe/Gary, we will generally use the pronouns “they” and “them,” but we use “he/him” and “she/her” where it preserves historical accuracy (of speech about drag, and when direct references to such pronouns can be established in the scrapbooks themselves).

A monumental visual record of a drag career spanning more than thirty years, recording Burma Taylor’s evolution from Catskill resort drag shows in the early 1950s to a Drag magazine centerfold in 1983. Taylor’s surprisingly fluid identity both foreshadows and parallels the remarkable social and cultural shifts in the performance of gender and sexuality during the same period; shifts that led to increased visibility for gay communities and nonbinary people.

Compiled without regard to chronology, the enormous scrapbook pages weave together a personal history of drag and desire, punctuated by color and b/w photographs of family, lovers and friends. Included in the folios are original artworks, both drawings and collages, which ecstatically combine the popular illustration of pin-up girls (Petty, Vargas, et al.); the faces of Hollywood film icons of the 1940s; sci-fi and horror films; and the erotic art of Tom of Finland, George Quaintance, and others.

Taylor’s story begins in the center of Vol. I, in a series of photos of his Italian immigrant parents, Frank and Rosie, who arrived in New York in 1906. A sister was born in 1910, but Taylor, born Gene Frank “Gary” Garra, was born much later, when his parents were 37 and 49. He grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, and was 18 in 1945, barely missing the draft for WWII. There are many suggestive photos that appear to be taken between 1945-1950, but the scrapbook’s next dated record is a 1952 advertisement for an upper west side hair salon where Taylor worked. Around the same time, he began to perform in drag, known for his belly-dancing and celebrity impersonations (most notably of Rita Hayworth).

The same year?, he landed a lead performance, under the alias BeBe Taylor, in “Guys will be Girls,” a drag show at the fabled Catskills pickup spot, the Pussycat Lounge, in Kiamesha Lake, NY. He also entered the downtown party scene. Prominent photos of Taylor in several slur-filled articles are featured in the scrapbooks, including “New York’s Fancy Faggot Fracas,” and “These Mad Artists’ Balls,” at least one from the magazine Tip-Off. Although these articles make use of the worst homophobic stereotypes, they are remarkably open about the real sexuality and community of drag (even as it is performed for straight audiences), rather than the wink-and-nudge coverage it often received in the mainstream press. These articles are themselves crucial, and strikingly rare, historical documents of the wide-range of discourse surrounding queer communities in the 1950s.

In the late 1950s or early 1960s, Taylor seems to have shed their “Gary” identity completely. Copious scrapbook documentation of glamorous performances and modeling jobs during the 1960s and 1970s are followed by an extensive collection of photographic prints of Rita Hayworth, Glen Ford, and other film stars. Taylor’s personal photography from this period, however, is intimate and casual, documenting an open, public life as a gay man, and increasingly, as a woman.

Around the time of Taylor’s first photoshoot for Lee Brewster’s radical transvestite magazine Drag (1972), their stylized feminine persona had evolved into a highly sexualized, but less-binary one. Taylor’s own artwork reflects this, depicting erotic fantasy scenes with men, women, and androgynous or hermaphroditic characters, including mermaids and monsters, in endless combinations.

In her 1983 Drag centerfold, Taylor is described as a resident of California. There are many photos that seem to be taken in California, where Taylor was probably identifying publicly as a woman, although she was clearly comfortable in front of the camera without her clothes on, and with a nonbinary set of physical sex markers.

There are a number of images that could be as late as the 90s. A substantial amount of research remains to be done on Taylor, their circle and connections to Brewster, the Queens Liberation Front, and their later life. Genealogical records suggest Gene Garra died in NYC in 2004, and was buried in Potter’s Field. The Drag centerfold can be viewed here.

ON HOLD

Two vols. Elephant folio. Vol. 1: Black binder, 24-½ x 19-½ inches, with 17 leaves; each leaf mounted recto and verso [34] pp. with b/w and color photos, handbills, newspaper clippings, original artwork, most in colored pencil, and a large number of cut-out reproductions of early Hollywood and gay illustrators; each page covered in rigid plastic film; inside rear board also collaged. Including nine pages of personal and professional photography of Taylor, their friends, and family (for a total of more than 250 photographs, a few pages mostly 3-¼ x 2-¼ in., but many larger, including several 8 x 10 in. portraits, and pages of collaged performance photos taken from larger prints), two pages of Taylor’s drawings, and one full-page caricature of Taylor by Zel, the celebrity caricaturist of the Brown Derby, Los Angeles. Most elements Very Good, a few cut-outs discolored by scrapbook paste. Cloth boards, metal ring binder, rubbed. Vol. II: Black stab-bound portfolio, 23 x 19 in., with 11 leaves mounted recto and verso; [22] pp. with b/w photos, newspaper clippings, and collaged Hollywood film stills and other photos of classic film stars (for a total of approx. 190 photographic prints: 60 personal and 130 promo, many altered/collaged); inside rear board also collaged. First two leaves [4] pp. and rear board with photos of Taylor and clippings of parties and performances they attended (for a total of approx. 60 personal photos).

Together with 34 loose drawings, various sizes, most approaching or larger than 8-½ x 10-½ in., a few smaller. A few signed and dated. Some toning to edges, leaves with remnants of previous mounting verso, not visible recto. Very good. Currently housed in protective plastic sleeves.

Archive of Leather Fraternity Membership Files

Archive of Leather Fraternity Membership Files, Los Angeles, California, 1973-1978.

Approximately 1.0 linear foot composed of: 200 membership files (approx. 190 with 4 page membership application, the majority manuscript, others typed); most with a photograph of the member and at least once piece of additional correspondence, for an approx. total of 1000+ pages and 175 photos, ranging in size from 1-½ x 1 in. to 8 x 10 in., most closer to 3-¼ x 2-¼ in.; 9 applications and membership correspondence loose, now housed in mylar; two administrative files, and one sheet of Leather Fraternity stickers. Occasional wear from handling, a few photos darkened or toned, overall very good.

An exceptional research archive of 200 Leather Fraternity member files, almost all containing a 4 pp. confidential membership application with exhaustive details pertaining to the applicant’s sexual history, fetishes, and fantasies. Fraternity demographics represented a diverse age range, experience level, and sexual identification. Most applications accompanied by at least one required photograph, many with two or three, forming a parallel collection of vernacular self-portrait photography, some of it erotic. Together the files represent an astonishing and intimate catalogue of male homosexuality and kink, all self-described in answer to prompts including “My first sexual experience,” “My first S/M experience,” and “What do you think are your best qualifications for your roles as slave/master?”

The Leather Fraternity began in 1973 as a fee-based confidential “introduction referral service” for gay leathermen in Los Angeles. Creator John Embry (1926-2010) was a serial entrepreneur who used the Fraternity newsletter as a crossmarketing device with his S/M mail-order business, Robert Payne’s Leather Emporium. Two years later, he founded the quintessential leather/BDSM magazine, Drummer, with Jeanne Barney as editor-in-chief. In Drummer’s first issue (June 1975), the Leather Fraternity was described as an “international, membership only, fast growing group of hundreds of gay Leathermen,” who would be “hand-matched based on the criteria in the confidential application.” Fraternity classifieds were an important part of the magazine, and until 1977, one had to be a member to respond.

The importance of the Fraternity and Drummer cannot be overstated; together they provided visibility for “the emerging identity of the ‘new’ homosexual,” a “homomasculine” or “hypomasculine” male, radically different from prevailing effeminate gay stereotypes. The magazine and the businesses associated with it created a network “of men who did not always have a sense of belonging elsewhere in the gay men’s community. It served as a communal forum for often isolated individuals and allowed for existing leather and kink institutions to be more easily identified and accessed. But perhaps most importantly, it generated a common culture and shared language that helped integrate local networks into a more national and international conversation. It gave these men images, stories, information, commentary, products and ideas to jerk off to, to relate to, to identify with, and that served to empower and grow a fledgling network of leathermen.” (1)

For two years before Drummer, Embry’s Fraternity newsletter had been connecting men with corresponding kinks. The application was designed to elicit the utmost specificity regarding appearance, preferred roles, dress, toys, substances, and activities. Invited to use additional sheets of paper if necessary, many files include longer, manuscript accounts of their deepest, idiosyncratic fantasies. The potential members placed an extraordinary amount of trust in the Leather Fraternity and Drummer staff. They provided their real names and addresses during a period when most of the described activities were considered deviant, if not outright illegal. Indeed, from 1975-1976 the core staff of Drummer were under 24hr police surveillance.

Police harassment of Embry, Barney, and others culminated the night of April 10, 1976, when the LAPD raided a Drummer charitable mock “slave auction” at the Mark IV Baths. The police “emancipated” the “slaves” and arrested 40 people for violating an 1899 statute forbidding involuntary servitude. Charges were dropped against most defendants, but four eventually plead guilty to felony pandering, including Embry, Barney, and the porn star Val Martin, who had been acting as the auctioneer.

Two substantial administrative files in the archive document the lead up to the auction and its aftermath. Correspondence between Barney and various members shed light on the ongoing conflict both with the LAPD and internally at Drummer and the Fraternity. Eventually, Embry and Barney split ways: he took Drummer to San Francisco in 1977, initiating a legal battle over the Fraternity membership files and dues. Although Barney’s bid to revive the Leather Fraternity newsletter independent of the magazine was ultimately unsuccessful, these files suggest that she continued to accept new members through 1978 and ended up with most, if not all, of the original application materials.

Files organized by last name and box number, this group including names beginning G-Z. It is difficult to speculate on exactly how many files might have existed, but given Embry’s 1975 claim to “hundreds” of members, we believe this may well represent at least two-thirds of the original membership files. Many with additional correspondence, some with considerably more. Most in regard to satisfaction or lack thereof with the membership; dues; missing issues of Drummer (a free subscription was included with membership); and edits to the encapsulated classified ads. Scattered references to responses written to other members that can be cross-referenced within the archive, a few unopened letters.

More images available on request.

$18,000

(1) Race Bannon, “John Embry’s Inductee Speech: Leather Hall of Fame,” 2014. See also Jack Fritscher, Gay San Francisco: The Rise and Fall of Drummer Magazine, 2013.

Ultra: Wrestling Gals, Bizarre Fads, Exotic Fashions. Vol. 1, No. 3.

[Zucker, Hal]. Zucca, H. Ultra: Wrestling Gals, Bizarre Fads, Exotic Fashions. Vol. 1, No. 3. New York, NY: Ultra Sports Co., 1958. 8-¼ x 5-½ in., 61, [3] pp.; b/w illus. from artwork by Gene Bilbrew and Eric Stanton among many others, uncredited; in orig. color stapled wrappers, with remnants of red privacy tape at edges and a handwritten price in upper corner, small loss to bottom of rear wrap.

One of four total numbers of this domination and sports fetish digest. Single OCLC holding at Yale, of the first issue.

$95

Six Posters from an Advertising Campaign for the Margo St. James Task Force on Prostitution

(Sex Work) [St. James, Margo]. De Souza, Neville and Gerard Vaglio. Six Posters from an Advertising Campaign for the Margo St. James Task Force on Prostitution. San Francisco: COYOTE, [1995]. Six posters, each 22 x 14-1/8 in.; b/w offset prints, rolled, with occasional horizontal creases from being pressed while rolled, more noticeable to some posters; minor edge wear; creased corner to one poster. Very Good.

Six of seven posters produced for a 1995 ad campaign, part of St. James’ and COYOTE’s longstanding work to decriminalize prostitution in California. Produced pro bono by sympathetic professional designers Neville de Souza and Gerard Vaglio, the posters pair arresting images with stark text. They address the legal and physical vulnerability of street prostitutes, the stigmatization of arrest records for future employment, and the cost of San Francisco’s anti-prostitution police squad (at the time more than $5 million annually), among other issues.

According to contemporary news reports, 7,000 of the posters were produced and distributed throughout the city. Not surprisingly, the campaign was controversial, particularly with the city’s Board of Supervisors Prostitution Task Force, whose members felt the posters promoted prostitution. Melissa Farley, well-known anti-trafficking activist, responded to the ad campaign “Just because the oldest jobs in the world are slavery and pimping doesn’t mean we as a society should support racism and prostitution.” James and COYOTE staffer Carol Leigh were both on the task force, six other members resigned “in disgust” over the dispute, claiming the panel had been “stacked” with advocates of legalization (SFGate).

Few of the posters appear to have survived, we find no holdings in OCLC or examples on the market.

ON HOLD

(Sexual Health) Aux Victimes de L’Amour

(Sexual Health) Bertray, A. Aux Victimes de L’Amour by Doctor Bertray Professor ... of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris . Paris: [Dupont], nd [ca. 1900]. 4-3/4 x 3-1/8 in., 8 pp.; stapled self-wraps, 1 mm closed tear front wrap fore-edge, else very good. Dr. Bertray will “relieve and heal what he bonhomie called the little miseries of Parisians.” A related edition held at BNF only, otherwise unrecorded.

$ 45

(Sexual Health) (Soldiers) Keeping Fit to Fight; Sex Hygiene and Venereal Disease

(Sexual Health) (Soldiers) (WWI) (WWII) War Department and American Social Hygiene Association. Keeping Fit to Fight. [New York?], n.d. [1918?]. 16 pp.; with medical illus.; ex-library, withdrawn stamp on front wrap. Together with: War Department. Sex Hygiene and Venereal Disease. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1942. Small oblong pamphlet, 8 pp.; tape at spine, front wrap heavily marked in contemporary pen. “A copy will be furnished to each recruit upon enlistment.”

Two pamphlets written for newly enlisted soldiers in both World Wars, describing sex and venereal disease in American vernacular. Sections on wet dreams, masturbation, and including contemporary slang, e.g. “Lues” for syphilis.

$50

(Sexual Health) (Government) Six Booklets, Reports, and Pamphlets

(Sexual Health) (Government) United States Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board, Washington, D.C. Six Booklets, Reports, and Pamphlets. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920. All 8vo, varying from 11-272 pp.; one with folding maps and organizational chart; all in paper wraps with stab holes from previous binding, one front wrap separated, else good.

Scarce documentation of the federal effort to coordinate research and prevention against social disease, within the armed forces and through federal funding to the States. Together a rich document of federal operations and organization in relation to private and state-funded efforts. Including “a study of the records of six thousand delinquent women …” Titles all from 1920, including:

Scientific Researches (January 1920); Program of Protective Social Measures Showing a Type of Federal aid available to States in connection with Venereal Disease Control (February 1920); Scientific Researches: Second Announcement. Section I, Section II (April 1920); Manual for the Various Agents of the United States Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board with appendices containing the federal law creating the Board, amendments thereto, regulations regarding funds administered by this Board, financial statements, a study of the records of six thousand delinquent women [...]; and Report of the United States Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920.

Our research indicates most with only scattered US institutional physical holdings, despite labyrinthine OCLC records indicating otherwise.

$250

(Sexual Health) (Education) Seven Booklets and Pamphlets

(Sexual Health) (Education) (New York) New York Social Hygiene Society; American Social Hygiene Association. Seven Booklets and Pamphlets, 1914-1924. 8vo, each 4-171 pp., most approx. 12 pp.; two with b/w illus. throughout, in various printed wrappers, most ex-library with accession stamps and pencil shelf labels. Overall Good.

Based in New York, the founders of the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA) included reformers and philanthropists such as Jane Addams and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. At least through the early 1920s ASHA shared an address with the New York Social Hygiene Society, formerly the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, the earliest of the American “voluntary social hygiene associations,” and a member of ASHA. The New York Society and ASHA cooperated with medical organizations, law enforcement, and social welfare groups to develop public information campaigns: mainly in the form of lectures, pamphlets, and journals.

This group includes two well-illustrated examples: Frank J. Osborne. A Health Exhibit for Men. New York, NY: New York Social Hygiene Society, 1917, with a few closed tears; and The New York Social Hygiene Society, Inc., 1916-1917 [title from cover]. New York, NY. Both booklets document public exhibits and lectures given in the state of New York.

Also: American Social Hygiene Association. First Annual Report, 1913-1914. New York, NY: The American Society Hygiene Association, 1914. Frank J. Osborne. The Control of Venereal Disease from the Public Health Standpoint. New York, NY: The New York Social Hygiene Society, 1917. Will Irwin. Conquering an Old Enemy. New York, NY: The American Society Hygiene Association, 1920. Publications of the American Social Hygiene Association, 1918. Bigelow, Maurice. The Established Points in Social Hygiene Education. New York, NY: American Social Hygiene Association, 1924.

$200

(Sexual Health) (Education) Circular Nos. 2-4

(Sexual Health) (Education) (Illinois) Chicago Society of Social Hygiene. Circular No. 2. Self-Protection: Sexual Hygiene For Young Men; Circular No. 3. Family Protection: For the Protection of Wives and Children from Venereal Contamination; Circular No. 4. Community Protection: Education against Venereal Disease a Need of the State. Chicago, IL: Chicago Society of Social Hygiene, n.d. [ca. 1911-1920]. 8vo, each pamphlet [4] pp.; no. 2 somewhat toned, else good.

Public health pamphlets issued by the Chicago member organization of the American Social Hygiene Association. Scarce in the market and institutionally, OCLC seemingly records less than 5 physical copies of each circular, possibly fewer?

$100

(Sexual Health) (Education) (Illinois) Manpower

(Sexual Health) (Education) (Illinois) Public Health Service, United States. Manpower. Venereal Disease Pamphlet No. 6. [Springfield IL?]: Social Hygiene Press; State Department of Public Health, Illinois, n.d. [ca. 1919]. 16 pp. pamphlet, stapled pictorial color wrapper, 1mm closed tear, recto, else very good.

“Sex—uncontrolled is disaster and wreck. Sex in control for men means Power.” Original emphasis.

A few pamphlets from this series held at Harvard and Oberlin, this one seemingly unrecorded in OCLC.

$45

(Sexual Health) (Education) (California) A Plain Explanation of the Greatest Social Evil

(Sexual Health) (Education) (California) Howard, Wm. Lee. A Plain Explanation of the Greatest Social Evil. San Francisco, CA: Purity Educational League of North America, 1910; and California Social Hygiene Society. 16 pp.; stapled printed wraps, ex-library with stamps and shelf-marks. Circular No. 8: The Need for Education in Sex Hygiene. San Francisco, CA: n.d. [ca. 1913]. 9 pp.; stapled self-wrapper, very good.

Early sex hygiene pamphlets. Although its name suggests otherwise, the Purity Educational League of North America was committed to a “wholesome discussion of sex life” featuring “pure and healthful knowledge,” in contrast to the “silence and secrecy” of past policy. “By secrecy we encourage mental perversion.” Sex education is patriotic.

$30

(Sexual Health) (Education) 11 educational pamphlets and nearly complete Journal of Social Diseases

(Sexual Health) (Education) A collection of 11 educational pamphlets published by the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis and The American Federation for Sex Hygiene, 1911-1914. Together with a nearly complete run of Journal of Social Diseases, 1911-1915.

A comprehensive and rare collection of early sex instruction and social hygiene materials from the the first social hygiene association in the United States. In 1905, New York dermatologist Prince Morrow founded The Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, it later changed its name to The American Federation for Sex Hygiene, and eventually joined with sister organizations in other states to form the American Social Hygiene Association. Seizing on the momentum of the growing public health movement, Morrow is recognized as an early and key proponent of sex instruction (sex hygiene) in schools. Believing that most parents were not qualified to provide medical and scientific instruction, Morrow’s organization sought to introduce modern, secular sex hygiene into public education through professional text-books, literature, and lectures.

Although some of the society’s arguments were based on contemporary scientific sexism and racism, Morrow believed medical misinformation and the sexual double-standard against women were dangerous impediments to understanding and prevention. This led the Society to hold men equally accountable for social diseases. Healthy sexual function required eliminating the demand for prostitution and pornography, not just the prostitute or pornographer.

By WWI, Morrow’s medical sex instruction movement had been joined to, and subsumed by, the moral purity movement, creating a new national sexual health agenda that partnered private associations and community groups with the US military and punitive federal policy. The partnership between ASHA (which was led by Charles Eliot, president-emeritus of Harvard, and counted Jane Addams and Julius Rosenwald among its board) and the US government led to policies that continued to stigmatize women (and incarcerate them). In one infamous example, El Paso made it a felony to infect someone with a venereal disease in 1918.

Physical copies of these early sexual health materials are rare in Worldcat and the market.

Comprising: Morrow, Dr. Prince A. Report on Progress; The Sex Problem: Social Diseases, Publicity, Sex Instruction, The Double Standard of Morality; and The Teaching of Sex Hygiene. New York, NY: Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis; The American Federation for Sex Hygiene, 1912. Three pamphlets, each stapled self wraps, The Sex Problem ex-library with stamps and pencil shelf-mark to front. Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis Educational Pamphlet Nos. 1-2, 4-7 (The Young Man’s Problem; Instruction in the Physiology and Hygiene of Sex for Teachers; The Boy Problem for Parents and Teachers; How My Uncle, The Doctor, Instructed Me in Matters of Sex; Health and the Hygiene of Sex for College Students; The Mother’s Reply. New York, NY: Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 1911-1914. 16-32 pp. each. These editions distributed by the Purity Educational League of North America (San Francisco). Ex-library with stamps and shelf-marks. Very Good. Bigelow, Maurice A. Sex-Instruction as a Phase of Social Education. New York: NY, American Federation for Sex Hygiene, 1913. Ex-library with stamps and shelf-marks. Good. Eliot, Charles W. Public Opinion and Sex Hygiene. New York: NY, American Federation for Sex Hygiene, 1913. Ex-library with stamps and shelf-marks. Good. Together with: The Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis. Journal of Social Diseases. Vols. II-IV. New York, NY: Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 1911-1913. Continued by: Journal of The Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis. Vols. V-VI. New York, NY: Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 1914-1915. 20 issues in two vols., cloth, original wrappers bound in. Ex-library stamps, spines with printed shelf-labels, else very good. Five of six volumes, a nearly complete run of the first American sexual hygiene journal.

$1750

(Sex Work) Group of Sex Work Ephemera from Brazil, England, and the US

(Sex Work) Group of Sex Work Ephemera from Brazil, England, and the US, 1975-2001.

Comprised of: Hustlers’ Rights Project, We Are the Target [San Francisco, CA: 1975], (10) stapled fliers from the Bay Area Gay Liberation organizing against antiprositution activities, verso printed with mailing list? of California organizations; Coyote and Project AWARE, Sex in the Age of Aids: A forum for women who work in the sex industry, [San Francisco, CA: 1985], small pink flier, printed recto and verso, corner with loss, advertising AIDS antibody testing and a public panel conversation; King’s Cross Women’s Centre, Centrepiece 5: The Hooker & The Beak, London, 1987; W.H.I.S.P.E.R.: Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt, Vol. I, No. 3 (Winter 1986-87) and Vol. II, No. 1 (Spring 1987), New York: NY. Together with Maria José Bacelar Guimarães, “Empresário procura mulher jovem, morena, bonita, liberal…”: Explorando os anúncios de estrangeiros, Salvador, Brasil: Centro Humanitário de Apoio à Mulher, 2002, 106 pp. with bibliography.

$150

(Sex Education) (Antisemitism) Collection of Anti-Sex Education and Moral Decency Literature

(Sex Education) (Christian) (Antisemitism) Collection of Anti-Sex Education and Moral Decency Literature, 1956-1970.

Comprising 11 booklets and pamphlets from both Christian and conservative morality campaigns, including Christian Crusade, The John Birch Society, The Movement to Restore Decency (MOTOREDE), and the National Organization for Decent Literature. Most examples are argued from Christian perspectives, some with explicit racist, sexist, anticommunist, and antisemitic content corresponding to far-right panic over the cultural impact of school integration and sexuality education. Frequent references to counterculture and the “sexual indoctrination” espoused by the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS; founded by Dr. Mary Calderone, medical director for Planned Parenthood Federation of America). Some illustrated. Scattered holdings in OCLC, some unrecorded. Overall condition very good.

$400

In chronological order: Publications Disapproved for Youth by the National Organization for Decent Literature: June 1956. Chicago, IL: NODL, 1956. [12] pp. pamphlet with book list by genre; 20th Century Reformation Hour. The Shame of the National Council of Churches … Collingswood, NJ: [1961]. 7 pp. illus. pamphlet; The problem of teen-age purity: The teachings of Pope Pius XII. New Rochelle, NY: Salesiana Publishers and Distributors, [1961]; Cross, John. A Fearful Crime to Offend God in Order to Please Men. Kenosha: WI: Cross Publications, 1961. 32 pp. stapled booklet; How the ‘Levelers’ Are Destroying America. N.p., n.d. [ca. 1968]. [4] pp. pamphlet; Sex Education in the Schools: Some Thoughts from Eminent Doctors and From MOTOREDE. Belmont, MA: MOTOREDE, n.d. [ca. 1969]. [4] pp. pamphlet; Manion Forum: Weekly Broadcast No. 791. South Bend, IN: 1969. [4] pp. newsletter; Hargis, Billy James. Sex Replaces Prayer in Public Schools. [Christian Crusade], 1969. [4] pp. newsletter; The Fact Finder. Must Our Schools Teach our Children Sex without Morality? Phoenix, AZ: 1969. [8] pp. pamphlet, illus.; American Education Lobby. Sex Education: Assault on American Youth. Washington, D.C.: American Education Lobby, n.d. [ca. 1969]. [4] pp. folio newsletter; Drake, Dr. Gordon V. SIECUS: Corrupter of Youth. Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade, 1969. 63 pp. stapled booklet with bibliography; Hargis, Billy James. Sex Revolution in the United States. Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade, 1970. First Edition. 53 pp. booklet, some b/w illus.

(Sexual Health) (Prostitution) (California) Transactions of the Commonwealth Club of California ...

(Sexual Health) (Prostitution) (California) Commonwealth Club of California. Transactions of the Commonwealth Club of California. Vol. VI, No. 1: The Red Plague (May 1911) and Vol. VIII, No. 7 (August 1913): The Red Plague—Second Report. San Francisco, CA: Commonwealth Club, 1911; 1913. 2 vols., 8vo, 83; [99] pp.; in printed wrappers, tight, sunned at edges, vol. VI spine just starting to split at foot. Good.

The first issue documents the groundbreaking proceedings of a “sane, healthful” public discussion of sex hygiene in prostitution to undo a “conspiracy of silence” on this means of spreading venereal disease. Following this first conference, the Club’s committee made recommendations to the state Board of Health, but hesitated on one controversial recommendation regarding whether or not “registration and compulsory examination” of prostitutes could result in diminished venereal disease. The second issue provides a number of opinionated analyses of the results of such a program from 1911-1912 at a municipal clinic in San Francisco, the only one of its kind in the US. These later reports offer conflicting opinions on state-sanctioned health care for prostitutes and its effects on the health of the general population, including the innocent women and children who are victims of men’s immorality. Impassioned arguments for and against legalized prostitution.

The only physical holdings definitively recorded in OCLC outside of California are at Harvard Law.

$125

Press Photo of Billy Graham in Times Square Sex Shop

Graham, Billy. Press Photo. N.d. [1957 or 1960]. Sheet: 9 x 7 in. Stamped verso: Cleveland Press Reference Dept; also inscribed in pencil verso: Billy Graham in a W42d St dirty bookstore. Some small discoloration top center. Good.

Vintage print of an image of the famous preacher during one of his New York City campaigns, probably his first, in 1957. During his 16-week crusade at Madison Square Garden, Graham did a publicity tour in Times Square that included a stop at one of the area’s infamous sex shops. Here he gazes intently at a bookrack of seemingly gay magazines, next to the “all new male films” section.

$45

(Dating) (Internet - Social Aspects) Collection of 13 Zines, 1999-2014

(Dating) (Internet - Social Aspects) Collection of 13 Zines, 1999-2014?.

Overall offering a broad perspective of contemporary dating culture, self-presentation, and sexuality. Most with fewer than 2 OCLC holdings, many others unrecorded.

Most 8-½ x 5-½ in., with illus. stapled wrappers, two single vol. octavo fold format, one sewn, most 8-40 pp.; profusely illustrated zines with anecdotes on internet dating including apps, Craigslist, social media, and sexual encounters. A few overtly feminist and/or queer, many compiling real classifieds. One mostly in haiku. Very Good.

Includes: B&D Press, Naked on the 6 Train: M4M, n.d.; Lizz Carlton and Mollie Underwood, Eds., Garbage Never Looked So Good, Irrelevant Press, n.d.; Alexandra Montclair, Classified Casanova, n.d.; Nicky Rodriguez, How (Not) to get a woman, n.d., and How (Not) to get a woman, Vol. 2, n.d.; Aaron Mew, Aaron’s Guide to Getting Girls, n.d. [California? ca. 1999?], Up Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 5: Modern Dating, St. Paul, MN: 2000; Awkward Ladies Club, Never date dudes from the internet: responses to a Craigslist ad, 2005; Andy Yates, Celebrity Blind Date! Starring Mel Gibson & Sarah Palin, 2010; Carrie Colpitts, My aim is true #6: You are not alone, [Chicago, IL]: n.d. [2011?]; Mission Mini Comix, Quincy’s Terrible, Horrible, Worst-ever Blind Date, San Francisco, CA: [2011]; Teppei Ando, I miss you already, Stranger - m4w - 52 …, [2012?]; Red Velvet, Things men have told me about my body, [2014]; Red Velvet and How are Your Insides, Have you had sex with this person, [2014].

$350

(Dating) (Internet) A Girl’s Guide to Dating a Geek.

(Dating) (Internet - Culture) Inouye, Omi M. A Girl’s Guide to Dating a Geek. [London]: 2007. 8vo, 168 pp.; in pictorial wrapper, scratched and worn.

Guide with graphs, case studies, fieldwork reports, and exercises designed to help the “females identify geeks using a helpful Geek Test, categorize them into distinct subclasses, understand and cope with their foibles, and if necessary, acclimatize to their culture.” “[D]iscover how to plot revenge, diagnose common geek ailments, and find the perfect geek gift.”

Highly specific moment in the evolution of 2000s geek culture. OCLC: 2 North American holdings.

$60

(Dating) (Asian-American) Donahue Transcript 02244

(Dating) (Asian-American) Donahue, Phil. Donahue Transcript 02244. Cincinnati, OH: Multimedia Entertainment, Inc., 1984. 8vo, 23 pp.; stapled show transcript regarding Asian women and Asian mail-order bride services, with discussion of stereotypes, sexuality, religion.

A few scattered holdings of Donahue transcripts exist in OCLC, not of this show.

$200

(Courtship) (Theater) How to Choose a Wife: Ten Tips for Men Who are Threatened with Matrimony

(Courtship) (Theatre) (Women) [Fairfax, Marian]; [The Dorner Players]. How to Choose a Wife: Ten Tips for Men Who are Threatened with Matrimony. [Elmira, NY], n.d. [ca. 1913-1914]. Small handbill promoting a staging of Fairfax’s play, “The Talker,” in Elmira, New York, by a traveling actor’s troupe. Satirical text presumably by Fairfax.

Ephemera related to the screenwriter and playwright Marian Fairfax’s early Broadway hit, “The Talker” (1912). Fairfax broke ground for women on stage and in Hollywood, writing a number of theatrical hits and silent films. She formed her own Hollywood production company in 1921.

$50

(Courtship) (Christian) How to pick a wife [...]

(Courtship) (Christian) Orr, William. How to pick a wife for Christian fellows. Wheaton, IL: Scripture Press, 1953. 8vo, 32 pp.; color stapled wrapper, small area of discoloration on front wrap. Together with Lovasik, Lawrence. Clean love in courtship. St. Paul, MN: Fathers Rumble & Carty, Radio Replies Press, n.d. [ca. 1948]. 8vo, 73 pp.; pictorial stapled wrapper, lightly rubbed.

Advice for Protestants (Orr) and Catholics (Lovasik) looking for love, addressing both spiritual and practical questions, e.g. Where to Look for Her, How to Look for Her, Self-Denial, Practical Tips for Dates, and the pitfalls of Parked Cars and Dangerous Reading.

OCLC finds no North American holdings for Orr, a few for Lovasik.

$55

(Courtship) Six Acquaintance Cards

(Courtship) Six Acquaintance Cards. N.p., N.d. On colored papers, 3 loose, one uncut single sheet printed with 3 additional examples. Sheet inscribed verso in pencil “From Willie/To Margaret.” Together with The Matrimonial Post and Fashionable Marriage Advertiser. No. 988 (July 1949). London. Tabloid, [8] pp. thumbed.

$50

(Antiprostitution) Report and recommendations of the Wisconsin Legislative Committee [...]

(Antiprostitution) Wisconsin Vice Committee. Report and recommendations of the Wisconsin Legislative Committee to Investigate the White Slave Traffic and Kindred Subjects. Madison, WI: The Committee, 1914. 8vo, 246 pp.; printed wrapper, splitting at foot, ex-library with stamps and pencil shelf-mark.

$25

(Antiprostitution) (Socialism) The Social Evil: Its Cause Effect and Cure

(Antiprostitution) (Socialism) Greer, J.H. The Social Evil: Its Cause Effect and Cure. Chicago, IL: Self-published, 1913. Small 8vo, 64 pp.; in printed wrap, dampstain at foot affecting first few leaves. Together with two other editions of the same: Greer, J.H. The Social Evil and the Remedy. Chicago, IL: Charles H. Kerr & Co., n.d. Each: small 8vo, 64 pp.; in color patterned wraps, both with losses to rear wrap where ads for The International Socialist Review are given.

A history of prostitution is given by the author, as well as its cure, socialism. Three editions, including a self-published version, helping to establish a date for this text, otherwise undated in recorded sources.

$40

(Sexual Health) (Pennsylvania) Four Reports on Vice and Social Diseases

(Sexual Health) (Pennsylvania) (Antiprostitution) Four reports on vice and social diseases, 1911-1913.

Together revealing the competing contemporary methodologies for controlling disease and vice: 1) scientific/medical and 2) moral/legal. Philadelphia’s report includes police reports and detailed arrest notes, as well as an appendix on sex hygiene. The Pittsburgh commission’s “constructive program” recommends sterilization and censorship and includes an extremely harsh analysis of women in prostitution, “lured by the love of luxury and idleness [rather] than driven by the pangs of penury.” Includes a wage survey of prostitutes in the city.

*The Vice Commission of Philadelphia: a report on existing conditions with recommendations to the Honorable Rudolph Blankenburg, Mayor of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: The Vice Commission of Philadelphia, 1913. 8vo, 163 pp.; in brown printed wrapper, lower forecorner damaged throughout textblock, not affecting text. Fair.

*Morals Efficiency Commission. Report and recommendations of Morals efficiency commission. Pittsburgh, PA: N.p., 1913. 8vo, 43 pp.; stapled gray printed wrapper, sunned, damaged forecorner affects all pages, not affecting legibility. Fair.

*Wilson, Robert. The Eradication of the Social Diseases in Large Cities. Offprint from Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, 1912. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1912. 8vo, 12 pp.; stapled printed wrapper, center fold and darkened.

*Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Social Disease. Report and Prospectus, 1911. [Philadelphia, PA]: N.p., 1911. Small 8vo, [16] pp.; printed self-wrapper, subscription card laid in, small closed tears at fore edge. Good.

$75

(Antiprostitution) (Mann White-Slave Act) Group of Instructive Literature

(Antiprostitution) (Mann White-Slave Act) Group of Instructive Literature Against Forced Prostitution, i.e. White Slavery, and Supporting Rescue Homes and Charities, 1871-1945.

Together six examples reflecting seventy years of popular hysteria over the plight of innocent young women forced into prostitution, tales that usually end in rescue and salvation or death. Two items of particular interest, one an evangelical biography of Evangeline Reams and her Ohio homes for wayward girls; the other an unusual pamphlet warning mothers and daughters about the devices used by “white slavers” on their victims.

$125

Including:

*Bingham, Theodore A. The Girl That Disappears: The Real Facts about White Slave Traffic. Boston: Gorham Press, 1911. 8vo, 87 pp.; illus. frontispiece; cloth, a bit rubbed. Very Good. Written by the former police commissioner for Greater New York.

*Clark, Harry. Evangeline Reams: A Brief Sketch of Her Life and Story of The Friends Rescue Home. [Damascus, OH]: Friends Rescue Home, n.d. [after 1940]. 8vo, 131 pp.; illus. from photos of Ms. Reams, the rescue homes, the rescued girls, etc. Printed wrapper, rubbed and lightly sunned. Very Good.

*Morse, Northrop. Peach Bloom: An Original Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Medical Review of Reviews, 1913. 8vo, 184 pp.; publisher’s cloth, corners bumped, front board with small marks and stain.

*Muhlenberg, W. A. The Woman and Her Accusers: A Plea for the Midnight Mission …. New York: NY: Pliny F. Smith, 1871. 8vo, 72 pp.; cloth with gilt title, corners bumped. Good.

*Pratt, William H. God Amid the Shadows. Indianapolis, IN: N.p., n.d. 8vo, 153 pp.; blue pictorial wrapper, well worn.

*A Tragic End: A Timely Warning to Mothers and Daughters, Also on Exposure of Some of the Devices Used by ‘White Slavers’ for Catching Unwary Victims. Accordion pamphlet, illus. Los Angeles, CA: Free Tract Society, n.d. With rescue home directory, after 1945.

(Sexual Health) (Libraries) Two letters soliciting librarians’ help fighting venereal disease

(Sexual Health) (Librarians) Two letters expressing support for librarians’ help fighting venereal disease. Comprising: Office of the Surgeon General, US Public Health Service, 1918. Letter from Surgeon General Rupert Blue to Librarians of the United States, October 3, 1918. Single sheet, typed, with Blue’s duplicated signature, lower right hand corner folded, two creases from original mailing. Together with: American Library Association. Letter from Secretary George Utley to Librarians, October 3, 1918. Single sheet, typed, with Utley’s duplicated signature, creased, upper corner folded.

The first letter requests support of librarians in the civic fight against venereal disease. The Surgeon General’s office will be preparing “an accredited list of books of instruction [for young men and women]” to be distributed in libraries “in such a way that their interest will be aroused.” The second, from the American Library Association, expresses approval of the Surgeon General’s plan to ask librarians to aid their enterprise in the “judicious distribution of good books.”

Together with a TLS from the American Social Hygiene Association to a library in Maine requesting information on what social hygiene reading is available at their location.

$60

(Sexual Health) (Quackery) Letter promoting a new treatment for syphilis

(Sexual Health) (Quackery) (Oklahoma). [Cosden Oil & Gas Company?]. Letter promoting a new treatment for syphilis, October 26, 1918. TLS, on a single sheet of Cosden letterhead, reporting on the Fisher treatment, a permanent cure for syphilis. Signature illegible, initials BWG.

References patients treated in 1907, a year after Oklahoma became a state, and the formation of a company to place this remedy before the public. At the time, the single syphilis cure was an arsenic compound invented by German chemist, Paul Ehrlich. It is unclear whether the “Fisher treatment” was the Ehrlich arsenic compound or another quack treatment, or if it was associated with the famed Cosden Oil & Gas Company. However, it was expected by the author to show “large and substantial profits.” and was managed by “Mr. Edward A. Hill” who may have been a geologist for Cosden.

$25

(Sexual Health) (Soldiers) Evidence in the Case of the Unwary Returnee

(Sexual Health) (WWII) [War Department?; Third Air Force]. Evidence in the Case of the Unwary Returnee. Tampa, FL: [Third Air Force?], n.d. [ca. 1941-1944]. 8vo, [12] pp.; eleven sensational stories of sexual encounters between enlisted men and various promiscuous women (“the old acquaintance” “the weeping widow” “the trim trucker” ) or procurement opportunities (“the Gabby Cabby”), all ending in venereal disease; based on “actual case history reports” reports released by Commanding General, Third Air Force, each with a half-page b/w illus., pages toned; in stapled printed wrapper, wrinkled with losses, sheets sl. loosened.

Not found in OCLC.

$325

34 Photographs of San Francisco Gay Motorcycle Club Events

(Sexuality) (Motorcycle Clubs) (California) 34 Photographs of San Francisco Gay Motorcycle Club Events, ca. 1973-1976. Silver prints, each 5 x 7 in., a few slightly curled, one with a small area of discoloration. Very Good+.

Scarce documentation from San Francisco’s male-only gay motorcycle clubs which emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s in tandem with leathermen culture. The clubs were greatly influenced by gay veterans’ experience in WWII and Hollywood touchstones like The Wild Ones (1954). The organizations celebrated hypermasculinity (as opposed to prevailing effeminate gay stereotypes), leather fetishism, and BDSM.

They were, above all, social clubs. The MCs provided their members with a safe space for unapologetic sexual expression in a period during which their sexuality was still largely criminalized. They maintained anonymity in their records, and were known for their wild “runs”: multi-day bike trips to nearby wilderness areas and campgrounds—where they partied hard and avoided police surveillance. The groups reached their apex in the 1970s, when there were reportedly over 20 gay MCs in California, including the Satyrs MC (LA), Oedipus MC (LA), Blue Max MC (LA), Rainbow MC (SF), Warlocks MC, Renco (SF), San Francisco Serpents MC, The San Franciscans MC, and the Petaluma Cocks MC (SF). In addition to sponsoring and organizing runs (oftentimes for charity), clubs were identified with their specific bars in San Francisco’s leather district.

Patches, colors, and other graphics in this present group of photos identify members from many San Francisco MCs, suggesting they were taken before or after a multi-club run. A number show the presentation of trophies and prizes, presumably from bike events and competitions during the run, and many include members of the South Pacific MC, a visiting club from Australia. Several famous San Francisco leather clubs on Folsom Street’s “Miracle Mile” may be identified in the photographs, including Boot Camp.

The crowded, carousing scenes represent the uninhibited atmosphere of the halcyon days of San Francisco’s leather scene before HIV/AIDS. Rare, only ONE Archives at USC seems to have similar documentation.

ON HOLD

Atlas de las Nubes para el Servicio meteorológico de la República Mexicana

Pastrana, Manuel E. Atlas de las Nubes para el Servicio meteorológico de la República Mexicana formado por Manuel E. Pastrana i del Observatorio Meteorológico Central de México [...]. Boston, MA: Heliotype Co., 1906. Oblong 4to, [9] leaves, 61, [4] pls.; introduction by Pastrana followed by plates, nos. 1-20, 22, 29, 31-34, 41-58, and 60 in color, very good; stamped publisher’s cloth with marbled endpapers; boards rubbed, corners bumped. Numbered 135 in ink on title, from stated edition of 1000.

The first cloud atlas produced for use by the Mexican meteorological service; most images reproduced from photographs taken at La Escuela Industrial Militar Porfirio Diaz in Morelia, Mexico. At the time of printing, the national meteorological service was comprised of 49 observatories, including one in each state. Each reported by telegraph to the central observatory in Tacubaya. The atlas’s classification and captions follow the recommendations of the 1891 International Meteorological Conference, Munich, and the first International Cloud Atlas (Hildebrandsson, Riggenbach, and Teisserenc de Bort, 1896).

Four US holdings listed in OCLC: UT, UNM, SDSU, and Stanford.

$1500

El Ĉina fotografia arto: kompilita de la redakcio de “Ĉina Fotografio.”

(Photography) (China) (Esperanto) El Ĉina fotografia arto: kompilita de la redakcio de “Ĉina Fotografio.” [Beijing], China: Ĉina Esperanto-Ligo, 1963. Square 8vo, 112 pp.; chiefly illus., a few in color, lightly toned with a few small internal marks; publisher’s boards in pictorial dust jacket, corners bumped, dust jacket worn with significant losses.

Anthology of Chinese photography, published by the Chinese Esperanto Association of Peking (Beijing). The Esperanto introduction describes the national character of the emerging Chinese photographic style, one in which art is always in service to the workers, and the communist cause. Photography may also be a “weapon against imperialism.” Full-page reproductions with captions in Esperanto, photographers identified. Various genres represented, including landscape.

Single North American holding in OCLC: UCSD.

$30

Five Illustrated Booklets Documenting the Fall and Death of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci

Five Illustrated Booklets Documenting the Fall of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci.

-Fugalli, Giovanni. The insurrection of Milan from 25 to 29 April 1945. Documentary. 16 photographic illustrations. [Milan, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, 16 pp.; forecorner bent. No North American holdings, OCLC. -The End of the Tyrants in Piazza Loreto. [Genoa, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, 14 pp.; illustrated wraps separated, loss at head, fair. not found in OCLC.

- Dongo! For the first time in the world; an impressive photographic documentation on the end of Mussolini and the hierarchs in Dongo. [Milan, Italy]: [New editions A.], [1951]. 8vo, 32 pp.; profuse b / w illus., reproducing photographs of the assassination, etc. Color illus. stapled wrappers, worn, splitting at spine, fair. Two copies.

- “The Retreat of Death”: Claretta Petacci. [Bologna, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, [15] pp.; toned, chipped edges, in illus. wrapper, soiled. This impression not in OCLC, a similar booklet, printed in Rome, held by Duke. OCLC finds one North American holding, NYPL.

-Murra, G., and C. Persia. The truth about the twelve days of Mussolina in Ponza. Bologna, Italy: Np, nd, ca. 1945. 8vo, 16 pp.; good, closed tear wrapper front fore-edge. 2 OCLC holdings: Duke, NYPL.

$150

Attenzione! Si avvicinano i “liberatori” anglo-assassini…

(Propaganda - Fascist) Attenzione! Si avvicinano i “liberatori” anglo-assassini… [Milan?], nd., ca. 1943. Poster printed in black and red, approx. 22-¾ x 19-¼ in.; toned, creases from vertical and horizontal folds, splitting at center; edges a bit worn, some foxing verso.

Poster warning inhabitants in German-controlled northern Italy of the dangers of the advancing Allied forces. “Reds,” “Jews,” and “hyenas of the air,” are coming for Italian women and children, converting them to their side with sweets and cigarettes.

OCLC locates one holding, at the Hoover.

$225

Elezioni Politiche 1913. Noi Anarchici.

(Anarchism) Elezioni Politiche 1913. Noi Anarchici … Broadside, 13 x 18-½ in.; creased, bottom edge roughly trimmed, typographic irregularities. Np, nd [1912-1913].

Anarchist broadside protesting the quasi-universal male suffrage granted to Italian men over 30 by the “moderately progressive” government of Giovanni Giolitti in 1912. The enfranchisement extended the vote to the very poor and illiterate, with the dramatic impact of trebling the electorate (from 3 to almost 9 million voters) in advance of the 1913 elections. The far left parties (Estrema) did not support the franchise; here anarchists protest it as a bourgeois “swindle,” keeping intact economic tyranny and solidifying the power of the political elite.

Italian anarchists were influenced by Mikhail Bakunin, who wrote “the whole system of representative government is an immense fraud resting on this fiction [of political liberty in the popular vote] ... Political power means domination.” (In fact, the “democratized” 1913 elections resulted in no representative gains by the revolutionary or working class parties of Estrema.)

$175

Collection of Documents Regarding Post-Liberation Italian Governance and Elections

[Partito Liberale Italiano; Democrazia Cristiana; et al.]. Collection of Italian Political Pamphlets, Leaflets, and Documents Regarding Post-Liberation Governance, Elections, and the First Italian Republic, ca. 1945-1946.

Comprised of: three mimeographed documents issued in December 1945 in reference to a proclamation by Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi shortly after his election, one the proclamation, and two from members of the Allied Commission; three Democrazia Cristiana leaflets, ca. 1945, one printed the day of Mussolini’s death; eight issues (with five duplicates) of the Quadrini del Partito Liberale, by Luigi Einaudi, Paolo Serini, Benedetto Croce, and Marcello Soleri, and others, some reissued by the PLI Sezione Piemontese, with two PLI leaflets, one printing the lyrics to the patriotic anthem “Arise Piedmonte.” Turin. Most 1945, a few 1943-1948.

Quadrini del Partito Liberale not found in OCLC.

$350

Group of Italian Resistance Bulletins and Handbills

(Clandestine Press) (Brigate Garibaldi) Group of Italian Resistance Bulletins and Handbills, and a Photograph, ca. 1943-45. [Rome, Turin, et al.]. Totaling thirteen items: two small handbills, printed recto and verso, the first “Ordine del Giorno N. 8 del Comando del distaccamenti e delle Brigate d’Assalto Garibaldi,” and the second, “Bollettino No. 12 Guerra Partigiana,” attributed to Il Comando delle Brigate d’Assalto Garibaldi del Piemonte, both ca. 1944, and a press? photograph of a fascist torture cell. Handbills lightly worn, good; photo center-creased and faded, with typed caption pasted recto, manuscript caption verso, fair. Together with ten mimeographed bulletins from wartime clandestine presses, most single sheet printed recto only, one example [4] pp., another [2] pp., stapled, all toned and fragile, most with creases from prior folds and edge wear, a few with small closed tears and chipping, two with manuscript annotations.

Texts discuss resistance operations in Turin and Northern Italy, the Brigate Garibaldi, partisan and labor actions, the activities of the Corpo volontari della libertà, the French resistance, and the Soviet Union/Eastern front. Some bulletins dated and attributed, including “Il Grido di Spartaco,” a clandestine Communist newspaper; “La Federazione Comunista Torinese”; “Il Costituendo Partito P.R.I.”; and “Il Comitato di Agitazione del Piemonte.”

OCLC locates no specific holdings of any of these items, though relevant archives exist at the Hoover and Library of Congress.

SOLD

Conseils et soins à donner à la chevelure. Traité théorique et pratique

(Cosmetics) (Quackery) Sœur Haydée. Conseils et soins à donner à la chevelure. Traité théorique et pratique [title from front wrap]. [Toulouse]: [Impr. de Berthoumieu], n.d. [1930s]. 10 4-⅜ in x 2-½ in., 64 pp.; some pen annotations, illus. stapled wraps a bit worn.

Lengthy promotional treatise concerning a baldness cure developed by “Sister Haydée” and her ersatz convent.

$45

Grand Torneo Internazionale di Lotte Feminili al Salone Margherita

(Women) (Sport) Grand Torneo Internazionale di Lotte Feminili al Salone Margherita. Rome, 1912. Concertina booklet, closed: 5-½ x 3-⅜ in., illus. with ten portraits of the fighters, from England, Europe, Russia, and the US; some usual wear, esp. at folds.

Promotional booklet for a women’s wrestling tournament held an evening variety show at a well-known Roman theater. Photographs of each contestant are reproduced with captions identifying their last name, nationality, and weight. The earnest, athletic presentation of the “national champions” in this booklet was unusual for a sport regarded largely as entertainment. This style of presentation may have been related to contemporary interest in the international competition of the V Summer Olympiad, which opened the same month

We could not locate any other record of the tournament or the participants. Women’s wrestling was not included as an Olympic sport until 2004.

$900

30 Years of Amalgamated Cooperative Housing, 1927-1957

(Cooperative Housing) (Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO) Amalgamated Housing Corporation. 30 Years of Amalgamated Cooperative Housing, 1927-1957 [title from cover]. [New York]: [Amalgamated Housing Corporation], [1958]. 4to, [30] pp.; profusely illustrated, reproducing b/w photos and color charts; in stapled pictorial wraps, lightly worn, VG.

Sponsored in 1927 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, the Amalgamated Housing Corporation was the first limited equity housing cooperative in the United States. From its first site in the Bronx it eventually grew to encompass additional communities in Manhattan, including Amalgamated Dwellings and Hillman Houses on the Lower East Side.

The narration of Amalgamated’s success is accompanied by photos, maps, floor plans, and infographics that exemplify mid-century graphic design. Introductions by Jacob Potofsky and Abraham Kazan.

$150

Eight Jail and Prison Equipment Catalogues

(Trade Catalogues) (Prisons) Decatur Iron and Steel Co., Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works, Southern Steel Co., Van Dorn, and VANCO. Eight Jail and Prison Equipment Catalogues, ca. 1965-1975. All approx. 8-½ x 11 in., ranging from [4] to [12] pp.; profusely illus., each in orig. color wrappers with stab holes from earlier binding, rubbed at spine.

Modern marketing for prison cells and equipment depict the fantastical empty spaces of the architecture of control. Together the catalogues demonstrate the growing sophistication of marketing and design in the emergent prison-industrial complex.

Scarce. Some unrecorded in OCLC or held in fewer than 3 institutions.

$250

[O]n the illegality and inexpediency of segregating commercialized vice in St. Louis

(Antiprostitution) (Missouri) Committee of One-hundred for the Suppression of Commercialized Vice in St. Louis. Brief in support of citizens’ memorial to the Board of police commissioners of St. Louis, Missouri, on the illegality and inexpediency of segregating commercialized vice in St. Louis. St. Louis: n.p., 1914. 8vo, 32 pp.; stapled self-wrapper, sl. toned at edges, one small closed tear to front wrap, ex-library stamp and penciled shelf label, very good.

Report on the “fallacy of segregation” and in support of the red light abatement efforts of the St. Louis Police. With many reports from other cities nationwide.

$60

(Antiprostitution) Report of the Commission for the Investigation of the White Slave Traffic [...]

(Antiprostitution) (Sex Trafficking) Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Commission for Investigation of White Slave Traffic. House - No. 2281: Report of the Commission for the Investigation of the White Slave Traffic, So Called. Boston: Wright & Potter, 1914. 8vo, 86 pp.; numerous charts and tables; stapled wrapper with ex-library stamp and penciled shelf label, otherwise very good.

Report on extensive investigation “to determine, so far as is possible, by what means and to what extent women and girls are induced or compelled by others to lead an immoral life …” “to endeavor to devise plans for preventing the evils it finds …” and a draft of bills “as may be necessary to carry its recommendations into effects.”

At the center of the report is a significant amount of sociological research conducted by the commission during interviews with known prostitutes and johns. While refuting entirely the “vague rumors” and myths of “white slavery,” fascinating details emerge about the early life of prostitutes in Massachusetts, and the commercial and penal systems they entered when they began their “immoral life.” With proposals for laws to address the “social evils” of dance halls, street solicitation, hotels, “call houses,” sexually transmitted disease, etc.

Rare in physical format.

$125

La prostitution [...] et ses multiples aspects

(Sex Work) (Anarchism) Armand, E[mile]. La prostitution, son histoire, sa définition, les conditions de sa disparition et ses multiples aspects. Paris: L’en déhors, 1933. Deuxième tirage. 8vo, 24 pp.; uncut, stapled pictorial wrapper, edges toned and sl. worn.

A pamphlet in support of prostitution and a radical new sexual ethic, including free love and camaraderie amoureuse by individual anarchist Émile Armand. Advertisements on rear wrap and front wrap verso for additional anarchist publications on sexuality and libertinage.

We suspect that this is the first and only edition given that all recorded copies have the same stated “deuxième tirage.”

$150

Le Véritable Guide des Jeunes Amoureux: Nouveaux Recueil des Lettres

(Etiquette) (Love Letters) Le Véritable Guide des Jeunes Amoureux: Nouveaux Recueil des Lettres. Montréal: Librairie Beauchemin Limitée, n.d. (ca. 1902-1908). 5-¾ x 3-⅞ in., 83 pp.; stapled pictorial blue wrapper, chipped at spine, separated at front.

Enchanting guide to romantic letter writing for young men and women. Includes extensive templates for all the awkward circumstances of love from initial introductions to marriage proposals but also multiple examples for rebuffing inappropriate advances, confirming shared affections, requesting a portrait, flirtations, breakups, reconciliations, complaints about absences, favorable and negative responses to marriage proposals, etc.

The publisher Beauchemin was incorporated under the name “Beauchemin Limitée” in 1902, it moved from the title page’s listed premises in 1908. OCLC locates four examples in Canadian institutional holdings, none in the US; some may represent a much later printing (1950s).

$95

Thirteen Pamphlets, Offprints, and Reprints from the American Social Hygiene Association

(Antiprostitution) Thirteen Pamphlets, Offprints, and Reprints from the American Social Hygiene Association and the Journal of Social Hygiene, 1917-1942. New York, NY: American Social Hygiene Association, 1917-1942. Various sizes, most octavo, 2-40 pp. each, most 8-10 pp.; condition varies, good to near fine, some illus. wrappers, some with ex-library stamps from the Jewish Welfare Board, Gainesville, TX, a few penciled shelf labels.

In 1913 several national antiprostitution and public health organizations united to form the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA). Based in New York, their founders included reformers and philanthropists such as Jane Addams and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The ASHA supported campaigns to end prostitution and redlight districts (and their attendant venereal diseases) through scientific inquiry, social reform, and community action. They cooperated with medical organizations, law enforcement, and social welfare groups to develop public information campaigns. The documents in the present collection represent the wide range of ASHA’s activities, with a particular focus on WWI and WWII when the health of enlisted men was used as political leverage against commercialized vice. Includes a pamphlet reprinting a speech by Fiorello LaGuardia that captures the somewhat comedic ambivalence of many politicians to “clean communities.”

They especially emphasize the turn during the 1920s at ASHA and nationally toward punitive, legal solutions to prostitution the demonized women and sidelined charitable or rehabilitation efforts.

$250

Includes:

American Social Hygiene Association. Does Prostitution Breed Crime? Law Enforcement Responsibility in Delinquency Prevention. New York, NY: American Social Hygiene Association, [1947?]. 8-1/2 x 11 in., [4] pp. leaflet, toned. Emphasizing law enforcement solutions.

American Social Hygiene Association. Why Let it Burn? [cover title]. New York, NY: American Social Hygiene Association, 1941. Stapled leaflet, 15 pp.; in illus. color self-wrapper, very good. “Prostitution must be recognized as a Fifth Columnist in our midst.” Although another pamphlet was issued by the ASHA under the same title in 1919, this edition appears updated with new research and arguments relating to America’s wartime concerns.

Six Offprints and Reprints from the Journal of Social Hygiene, 1918-1941. New York: The American Social Hygiene Association, 1918-1941. All octavo, 2-40 pp. each, most 8-10 pp.; some edgewear with small closed tears, ex-libris stamps, most from the Jewish Welfare board, Gainesville Texas, one with penciled shelf label. The longest articles, from 1919 and 1920, offer a history of the antiprostitution movements in New York City (the “Committee of Fourteen”) and California (Redlight Abatement Act). Another article, 1936, addresses the issue of legalized prostitution

American Social Hygiene Association. The Case Against Prostitution. New York, NY: American Social Hygiene Association, 1940. Pamphlet, unfolded approx. 16-½ x 10-¾ in., [12] panels, recto an informational broadside suitable for posting; sl. toned at edges, front panel with ex-library stamp, Jewish Welfare Board, Gainesville, TX. Rare ephemera intended to promote the “clean community environment in which prostitution cannot flourish.” Includes a “practical program” for community action.

Johnson, Bascom; LaGuardia, Fiorello; and Jean B. Pinney. Three American Social Hygiene Association Pamphlets, 1940-1942. 8vo, 8-24 pp. each; one illus., stapled wrappers, sl. toning and edgewear, good.

Reprinted from the Journal for Social Hygiene: How Fares the Battle Against Prostitution (Pinney); Prostitution and Quackery in Relation to Syphyilis Control (Johnson); and “An Address” (LaGuardia).

LaGuardia pamphlet reprints a speech including a jokey intro in which the Mayor seems confused about why he is speaking at a conference about Commercialized Vice and not at a leather or furniture convention.

Kneeland, George J. Commercialized Prostitution and the Use of Property. New York, NY: New York Social Hygiene Society, 1917. 8vo, 8 pp.; ½ in. closed tear on upper edge goes through entire pamphlet; stapled printed wrapper, edges worn, with ex-library stamp and penciled shelf label, fair. Excerpted from Social Hygiene, Vol. II, No. 4 (Oct. 1916).

How We are Defending the Health of Our Soldiers and Sailors: 309 Houses of Shame Closed

(Antiprostitution) (California) (Socialism) Hichborn, Franklin and L.D. Bohnett. Five Informational Leaflets: Redlight Abatement Acts Prove Effective in Other States; Segregation Does Not Segregate and Regulation Does Not Regulate; Source of the Opposition to the Redlight Abatement Act; State Government by Perjury and Forgery; The California Redlight Abatement Law: It’s Provisions and Purpose. San Francisco, CA: Campaign Committee for the Redlight Abatement Bill, 1914. Five leaflets, each approx. 6-⅜ in. x 3-⅜ in., 4, 6, 6, 8, and 8 pp. Together with Franklin Hichborn, Answers to Arguments … Against the Redlight Abatement Act, [California]: n.p., [1914] 8 pp. Most with small ex-libris stamp from the California Commonwealth Club and penciled shelf labels or scattered other marks or edgewear, a couple of small closed tears. Good.

Propagandist description of the controversy arising from California’s Red Light Abatement Act, a.k.a. the Bohnett-Grant Act. The Act was signed into law in April, 1913, but was contested by a statewide voter referendum held in November 1914, where it was affirmed. Like other Red Light Abatement laws, it ended segregated “redlight districts” and transformed public nuisance law to allow the government to take action against landlords whose property was used for brothels or “lewdness.” Importantly it also allowed for any resident citizen of the state to “maintain an action” against a specific property, empowering communities to act directly, without involving law enforcement.

Many high-profile supporters of the Act were Reformists and socialists. The leaflets here are mostly written by journalist Franklin Hichborn, an associate of prominent reformer John Randolph Haynes and his suffragist wife, Doris Haynes. Hichborn takes aim directly at prostitution’s profiteers and the link between capital and sex. One pull quote, from a municipal judge in Portland, OR, sounds almost contemporary in its appeal to move away from “criminal prosecutions, because [they] are usually directed at the pawn in the system while the real culprit, the man who knowingly permitted the use of his property for immoral purposes … is allowed to go unwhipped.”

Together with:

(Antiprostitution) (California) (WWI) State Law Enforcement and Protective League. How We are Defending the Health of Our Soldiers and Sailors: 309 Houses of Shame Closed. San Francisco: State Law Enforcement and Protective League, 1918. Trifold pamphlet [6] pp.; illus. from photos, two small closed tears, edges worn, one small repair?

Exemplary and rare document of the overheated rhetoric in the fight against prostitution and its special urgency during wartime. The League’s purpose is declared to be the protection of men in service and purity of home, primarily through “suppression of the vice exploiter” and “rehabilitation of the vice victim.” The pamphlet is primarily a report on legal actions brought under the Redlight Abatement Act. Seven recently closed “dens of vice” in the San Francisco Bay area are illustrated next to the descriptions of hundreds of others, and evidence of “white slave” trafficking. Not found in OCLC.

$375

Women’s Forum on Prostitution Rights: Program

(Sex Work) (Rights) Women’s Forum on Prostitution Rights. Program. San Francisco: Women’s Forum on Prostitution Rights, [1984]. Single pink sheet, 8-½ x 5-½ in., printed recto and verso, some wear, creases, good.

Verso supplies the four-day program for a conference on prostitution rights in July, 1984 (date from Hooker’s Ball advertisement). Speakers include many well-known advocates and activists for prostitutes’ rights, including Margaret Prescod, Margo St. James, Delores French, Gloria Lockett, et al. Recto advertises the infamous Hooker’s Ball and the Coyote Film Festival.

$30

Opal Correspondence Club Ephemera

(Courtship) (Correspondence) Reasoner, Walter E. [and Opal N. Reasoner]. Opal Correspondence Club Ephemera. Rosiere, New York: Opal Correspondence Club, [1919]. Six items: two personal ad directories, [16] and [8] pp., one dated membership offer, one blank “Gentleman’s Application,” an introductory letter, and a trade card. Overall very good, minor wear at directory spines.

Items presumed to constitute a man’s introductory package to the Opal Correspondence Club, a matrimonial agency. The Club was named after the wife of its president and manager, Walter; Opal Reasoner is also listed as the Manager of the Ladies Department.

The blank application and the personal ads capture the pragmatic aspect, for both men and women, of many lower-middle-class and middle-class marriages in the first quarter of the 20th-century. Emphasis is given to income, inheritance, real estate holdings, children, hereditary disease, and religion. Personal questions somewhat limited: “Are you of good morals?” “Do you prefer city, town, or country life?” The Reasoner’s club was strictly limited to white applicants. The “updated” directory includes the new rule “No Colored People Accepted.”

Walter and Opal were entrepreneurial in other fields. The directory includes advertisements for their “Minette” correspondence photo service and two different pocket multi-tools.

We are unable to locate other references to this agency.

$275

(Trade Card) McDonnell’s Matrimonial Association.

(Courtship) (Trade Card) (Correspondence Marriage) McDonnell’s Matrimonial Association. [Lady Member]. Chicago: n.p., n.d, ca. 1900. 5-⅛ x 3 in., printed recto and verso; soiled with creases, older cellophane holding top corner with small loss.

Advertising a free directory of 2000+ ladies in the US and Canada with a “view to amusement, mutual improvement [and] matrimony.” Including photographs. “Would you like a rich girl, a poor girl, a beautiful woman, a buxom widow, a pretty maiden, a well-educated young lady, a farmer’s daughter, or a good housekeeper? We have them all …”

We are unable to identify other references to Walter McDonnell’s Chicago service.

$125

Cultura Física y Sexual. All Published

Martin de Lucenay, Ángel. Cultura Física y Sexual. Vol. 1, Tomo 1 (Dec. 1935) through Vol. 3, Tomo 3 (June 1936) [all published]. Barcelona: Editorial Cisne, 1935-1936.

Small 4to, 13 issues bound in three vols., orig. wrappers bound-in, each 72-160 pp., Vols. 1 and 2 each comprised of five issues, Vol. 3 of three issues, subtitles vary; illus. b/w pls, approx. 4-8 per issue, most credited to the Foto Mayo studio; tan calf with printed labels to spine, rubbed and bumped, labels abraded with losses, interior very good.

A complete run of the Guerra Civil-era pulp sexuality series by author and sexologist Dr. Ángel Martin de Lucenay. Two years earlier Lucenay developed a progressive sexual education series with another popular Republican press, Editoral Fénix. In this new version, for Cisne, Lucenay largely abandoned the political aspects of his project in favor of a titillating, sometimes racist narrative about human sexuality. Pseudo-scientific topics provide the opportunity for nude and medical photography, including sports and sexual health, normal and abnormal physiology, race and sexuality, euphoric drugs, sex and gymnastics, etc. Many political references remain; the Soviet sex education curriculum and sports system are offered as ideal education programs.

Most of the nude photography is credited to Foto Mayo, a family studio well-known before the Guerra Civil for its anarchist and communist sympathies. Their photojournalism of the Guerra Civil made them famous and at the end of the war the three brothers were forced to flee to Mexico, where their studio, renamed Hermanos Mayo, continued to cover political violence, including the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968.

Rare Republican sexuality series, OCLC lists only one complete run in institutional holdings worldwide, none in North America.

$750

Sous la jupe: illustré

Maindouce, G. Sous la jupe: illustré. Paris: Les Éditions du Couvre-Feu, n.d. [ca. 1933-1935]. 8vo, 115 pp.; erotic fiction illustrated with 28 b/w pls., most printed recto, some also verso; in orig. wrapper with color d.j., d.j. beginning to split at spine, edges worn, else very good. D.j. with misprint “Nombreuses illustrations sujestives” [sic] described by Pia.

Éditions Couvre-Feu was one of a number of imprints founded by Léon [a.k.a. Victor?] Vidal under the larger umbrella of his erotic publishing and fashion group, Société des Éditions Gauloises. Couvre-Feu specialized in pseudonymous fetish, sadomasochist, and bondage literature; illustrated with fetish photography by Studio Biederer and from the archives of Vidal’s other business, the lingerie company Diana-Slip, whose catalogue included anonymous fetish images by Brassaï, Kertesz, and Roger Schall.

Several editions bearing the title “Sous la jupe” were issued by Couvre-Feu between 1933-1935. They differ considerably from this rather avant-garde example and priority has not been convincingly established: one was unillustrated, another included extracts of several erotic stories with only scattered illustrations, a third was a promotional list of erotic publications, and an English variation was issued by Éditions Richepanse in 1935. Nevertheless, it is possible to match some of the “detourned” images in this artistic edition to others by the Studio Biederer and from the Diana-Slip catalogues.

Though recorded in Pia, P., Livres de l’Enfer, this version and d.j. seemingly uncommon, OCLC locates no holdings of this edition in North America.

$450

Cine Cubano. Año 1, No. 3 and Año 2, No. 6.

Guevara, Alfredo, Ed. Cine Cubano. Año 1, No. 3 (Nov. 1960) and Año 2, No. 6 (February 1962). La Habana: n.p., 1962. 2 issues, each: 4to, 82 pp.; profusely illustrated review of Cuban and international cinema; some edgewear, creases, or nicks; former with ex-libris stamp on p. 3, latter with loss to top corner of front wrap.

Early issues of the classic revolutionary film journal.

$75

Radioactivo: Poderoso Fertilizador y Estimulante Para La Vegetación

Banco del Radium [Banque du Radium, Paris]. Radioactivo: Poderoso Fertilizador y Estimulante Para La Vegetación [title from wrapper]. Barcelona: [Banque du Radium] and [R. Cumellas], [1915]. 8vo, 8 pp.; in Spanish, some translated from French, printed in green, with historiated initials, near fine.

Attractive art nouveau promotional booklet for radium soil enrichment, from a period of explosive popular interest in radium. The text compares the “therapeutic” action of radium in agricultural applications to those in human medical treatments—combating unknown “infirmities” and cultivating new vigor.

Published by a Spanish representative for the radio-agricultural firm Banque du Radium, Paris. BDR was established by a friend and sponsor of Marie Curie, the French industrialist Emile Armet de Lisle. Armet de Lisle also published the journal Le Radium.

Uncommon, we locate no other examples of Banque du Radium or Banco del Radium promotional materials in OCLC or the trade.

$225

Cartilla Maya-Español para los monolingües Mayas de Yucatan, Campeche y Quintana Roo

[Beloff, Angelina. (Illustrator)]. Instituto de Alfabetización en Lenguas Indígenas, México. Cartilla Maya-Español para los monolingües Mayas de Yucatan, Campeche y Quintana Roo. México, D.F.: [Secretaría de Educación Pública], 1946. Small 4to, 102 pp.; illus. reader, unmarked, newsprint pages toned, fragile, and chipped, a few leaves unopened; in color pictorial wraps, with closed tears and losses, fair.

A Maya-Spanish children’s primer, part of the Secretary of Education’s campaign against illiteracy, particularly among indigenous, monolingual populations. These federal initiatives had mixed results and were largely unsuccessful at achieving larger social improvements in rural communities.

This edition illustrated by artists Angelina Beloff and Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, both associated with the muralist movement (Beloff through her marriage to Diego Rivera).

$150

Cuauhtemoc

[Valcárcel, Gustavo and Adolfo Mexiac (Illustrator)]. Cuauhtemoc. Serie Biografia, No. 1. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1956. Small 8vo, 48 pp.; illus. throughout from linocuts and drawings by Mexiac, lightly toned; orig. stapled pictorial wrapper, sl. worn.

A condensed biography of the last Aztec Emperor with bold illustrations by Adolfo Mexiac. From an intended series of indigenous biographies of which only 2 vols. were seemingly published.

OCLC identifies only two copies in US libraries.

$150

Untitled

Yampolsky, Mariana. Untitled. ca. 1945-55. Linoleum cut, image: 7 x 3-1/2 in., sheet approx.: 9-1/4 x 7-7/8 in.; top edge sl. foxed, not affecting image. Signed in pencil, further inscribed by the artist in pen to Madam Hedwig Reducing Salon “Good for one facial [...] call for appointment before November 1, 1955.”

Yampolsky (1925-2002) immigrated to México from the US in 1945. That year she was hired by the Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP)—the only woman working in the TGP studios at the time. She became a celebrated illustrator and photographer and, in 1958, a Mexican citizen.

This print is emblematic of her TGP-era style and was seemingly offered to a salon in exchange for a facial treatment. As “occasional art,” an emerging way of describing art either produced for special occasions, gifted, or bartered, it offers a disruptive context for understanding the production and distribution of art.

$225

¡Vean estos films!

Sovexportfilm. ¡Vean estos films! [cover title]. Moscow: Sovexportfilm (Asociacion URSS para la Exportatcion y La Importacion de Peliculas), ca. 1962. Oblong 4to, [26] leaves; profusely illus., [20] pp. with full-page color illus. advertising Soviet films, further [12] pp. with pockets for loose portrait photos of actors, two per page, approx. half present, heavy wear to edges.; in orig. comb binding, entirety worn with some dampstain at front.

One of many iterations promoting Soviet films to international theaters and audiences, this one a deluxe Spanish version, distributed in Mexico. Advertising a number of famous Soviet movies and stars from 1958-1961.

Not located under this title (or approximate translations) in OCLC.

$125

Mexico

Comité Organizador de la Participación en la Exposición Ibero-Americana de Sevilla, Luis Alberto de Herrera, and Francisco A. Sáenz. Mexico. [Mexico]: Talleres gráficos de la nación, 1929. Oblong 4to, 591 pp.; full-page b/w pls. throughout, paper toned, pls. very good; 3/4 green cloth, corners bumped, paper labels stained.

Large format, encyclopedic album commissioned by the government’s department of propaganda to present the modern political and social structures, and economic successes of post-revolutionary Mexico to an international audience. Lavishly illustrated with tipped-in plates reproducing photographs of government buildings, schools, public transportation, industrial and commercial sites, and public works. Most plates with decorative borders inspired by Aztec designs. The album culminates with images and descriptions of the Mexican pavilion in Sevilla.

An important piece of propaganda describing the massive reforms of the post-revolutionary period, it was published under President Calles’ direction in the year that he founded the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), a time in which the “social revolution” was very much still at risk.

Example 440 of 3000.

$450

U/topistas: Estudio para proyectos contemporaneous

[Art – Puerto Rico] Universidad Sagrado Corazón, Galería de Arte and Michelle Marxuach Galería. U/topistas: Estudio para proyectos contemporaneous. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Michelle Marxuach Galeria; M&M Art Projects, [2000]. 8vo, [78] pp.; color illus., wrappers sl. loosened with small markings on front cover.

Catalog documenting projects by 37 Puerto Rican artists for an exhibit that took place at the Galeria de Arte de Universidad Sagrado Corazon in conjunction with the PUERTO RICO ‘00 (PARENTESIS EN LA CIUDAD) exhibition. Includes early work by Puerto Rican artists Allora & Calzadilla, Ernesto Pujol, Pedro Velez, and others. OCLC locates a single holding (Getty).

$95

A ruptura da fotografia nos anos 50

Oiticica, José Filho. A ruptura da fotografia nos anos 50. Catalogue of an exhibition held at Galeria de Fotografia da Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, January 14 - February 25, 1983. Rio de Janeiro: Edição Funarte, 1983. 4to, 97 pp.; intro by Hélio Oiticica, illus. with 50+ full-page b/w reproductions of photographs; in paper wraps, scuffed, especially spine, else very good.

Uncommon Brazilian photo exhibition catalogue. José (1906-1964) was an entomologist, mathematician, and a photographer who experimented with microphotography, abstraction, and constructivism. He was also the father of renowned artist Hélio Oiticica. Hélio’s introduction in the catalogue was written c. 1967.

$150

Crónicas, documentos, y otros papeles.

(Art—Medicine) ​Slullitel, Isidoro. Crónicas, documentos, y otros papeles. [Rosario, Argentina]: Self-published, 1971. 8vo, 473 pp.; frontispiece b/w reproduction of a woodcut by Juan Grela; paper toned; pink card wraps, worn and splitting, top edge foxed. Gift inscription on half-title from author to the artist Gyula Kosice.

Slullitel was an orthopedist and art collector whose patronage in Rosario extended to both the visual arts and a literary salon. An uncommon volume of his thoughts about the relationship between medicine, art, and culture, with an important association.

Unrecorded in OCLC.

$175

Tercer Salon Italo: La energia en las artes visuals

Compañía Italo Argentina de Electricidad and Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tercer Salon Italo: La energia en las artes visuals. Exh. Cat. [Buenos Aires]: [La Compañía], 1971. Oblong 8vo, [36] pp.; b/w pls., wrappers lightly worn at extremities.

Catalogue an exhibition of painting and sculpture by Argentinian artists, on the theme of energy.

OCLC locates five copies in North America: Getty, Lib. of Congress, MoMA, Univ. of Texas, and Trenton.

$50

Sol Lewitt

LeWitt, Sol. Sol Lewitt. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Haags Gemeentemuseum 25 July – 30 August, 1970. The Hague: Haags Gemeentemuseum, 1970. Oblong 4to, 64 pp.; b/w illus. throughout; in orig. wraps, rubbed and worn at extremities, bumped corners sl. affecting interior leaves; ex-library with ownership sticker on front cover.

$50

Rauschenberg: Selections

Rauschenberg, Robert. Rauschenberg: Selections. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Fort Worth Art Center Museum, January 5 – February 2, 1969. Fort Worth, TX: Fort Worth Art Center Museum, [1968]. 4to, [46] leaves, incl. intro, descriptive and critical “collage,” [12] plates with b/w reproductions of artworks from the exhibition, exh. checklist, and bio; in orig. pictorial wraps, spine reinforced with tape, splitting at foot; ex-library with shelf mark sticker to front cover.

In a short intro, the museum’s director, Henry T. Hopkins, writes that he wanted to bring a substantial exhibition of the artist’s work to the state where he was born (and where it had rarely been seen). After meeting the artist to discuss the catalogue and face the “vexing problem of more words on art,” they decided to create a kind of collage of previously published writing. “Ideally the mild frustration produced by reading it will be a reminder of the interplay between art and life and as such, a reflection of Rauschenberg’s chosen realm.”

Rauschenberg put similar ideas to work in his well-known Abrams monograph, published the following year.

$759

Poem 1 and Poem 2. From Penny Poems, No. 31

Oldenburg, Claes. Poem 1 and Poem 2. Penny Poems, No. 31. New Haven, CT: Penny Poems, 1959. Single-sided sheet, 8-1/2 x 11 in., toned with losses at two corners; typed-signed at bottom, Claes Oldenberg [sic].

Scarce issue of Penny Poems, the daily broadside poetry series founded by Yale grad students in 1959. It was sold at various bookstores for 1¢ and published early work by a number of famous language poets and Beats including Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Diane di Prima, and Ron Padgett.

This would appear to be the first published writing by Claes Oldenburg, whose poetry based on found imagery was the subject of a 2012 exhibition by at the Menil Collection, Houston, entitled Strange Eggs: Poems and Cutouts, 1956-1958. The exhibition focused on a transitional period in his artwork, shortly before he made his first iconic Pop sculptures. The humor and absurdity of the “collage-like” poems are evident in these examples.

OCLC records only one holding: Brown; a copy may also be held at Yale.

$750

¿Qué es la CNT? : La emancipación de los trabajadores será obra de ellos mismos o no será

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, Federación Local de Malaga. ¿Qué es la CNT? : La emancipación de los trabajadores será obra de ellos mismos o no será. Malaga: Libreria Interna Confederal, Federación Local de Malaga, 1978. Oblong 8vo, 26 pp.; stapled pictorial wraps, sl. soiled and creased, ex-library with withdrawn stamp p. 5 not affecting text.

$25

Pedrito Contreras y Juan del Campo

Segui, Pedro. Illustrator. Pedrito Contreras y Juan del Campo. [Argentina]: N.p., [1950]. Oblong 8vo, [16] pp.; color illus. propaganda narrative with one page marked with English; stapled illus. wrapper, colors bright, lightly worn, very good.

Unusual Peronist propaganda illustrated by humorist Pedro Segui. Text defends Peronist nationalization policies from criticisms following rapid inflation and economic isolation.

OCLC lists two holdings: Brown and UMass-Amherst.

$60

Aire. No. 1 (Junio 1937) through No. 4 (Primavera 1938) (all published)

Aire. No. 1 (Junio 1937) through No. 4 (Primavera 1938) (all published). Barcelona: N.p., 1937-1938. 4to, 12-1/2 x 9-3/8 in., four issues: [48], [72], [74], [76] pp.; full-page illustrations throughout, incl. b/w reproductions, experimental typography and design, numerous multicolored printing techniques, with overlays and varied papers, corners bumped with a few creases and scattered toning to interior, No. 1 with horizontal edge loss on two leaves not affecting text or images, No. 4 with small dampstain to forecorner on a few central leaves, not affecting text or images; spiral-bound color pictorial wraps, Nos. 2 and 4 a bit foxed and worn at the edges and wire, No. 1 with small closed tear at foot of front wrap.

A complete run of “one of the most luxurious and visually dynamic publications of the [Spanish Civil] war.” This short-lived avant-garde aviation serial was published during the war under the direction of the Republican Air Force. The contents are antifascist and literary, promoting solidarity with the Popular Front, the USSR, and Mexico. Wartime aviation news is interspersed with articles on artistic and cultural topics, poetry, photo essays, and advertisements. The first issue’s somber and poetic epigraph belies the exuberant graphics: “Al hombre le nacieron alas … Cuando conquisto el cielo, quiso destruir la tierra.”

Artist Salvador Ortiga, known for his political graphics, was responsible for the dramatic covers and probably much of the design. Ortiga was arrested at the end of the war and died in a notorious Nationalist prison camp in 1939.

An oft-cited highlight of Guerra Civil print culture, rare complete. OCLC lists three North American holdings: UI-UC, UPenn, and Princeton.

See Jordan Mendelson, Revistas y Guerra, 1936-1939, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2007.

$2800

Las Juventudes Libertarias de Artes Gráficas protestan [...]

[Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias (FIJL) and Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI)] and Comisión pro-Cultura Juventudes Libertarias de Artes Gráficas. Las Juventudes Libertarias de Artes Gráficas protestan del torpedeamiento de que es objeto la Banda Municipal, y piden a las demás Juventudes y amantes de la cultura, que hagan otro tanto. [Barcelona]: n.d. (ca. 1936-38). Broadside, 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 in.; toned and creased.

Impassioned and cheeky defense of the Municipal Band of Barcelona by a youth graphic arts and cultural commission associated with the socialist and anarchist federations during the Civil War. The band was directed by Joan Lamote de Grignon. Lamote was fired after Franco took the city in 1939 and fled to Valencia.

$175

Carteleras. Año I, No.1 - Año 1, No.3 (all published?)

Comite Ejecutivo de Espectaculos Publicos de U.G.T.-C.N.T. Carteleras. Año I, Núm. 1 (24 Enero 1937) to Año I, Núm. 3 (7 Febrero 1937) (all published?). Valencia, Spain: N.p., 1937. Three issues, each a single-sheet 4to, [8] pp.; some wear at edges and creases.

Weekly pamphlet advertising upcoming films and theater schedules in Valencia, published by the UGT-CNT whose unions controlled the theaters and film selection. Uncommon ephemera from the cultural revolution of the Spanish Civil War.

Unrecorded in OCLC.

$175

Comitè Econòmic d’Espectacles Públics

(Cinema) Comitè Econòmic d’Espectacles Públics. [Theater Broadside]. Girona, Spain: [CNT/AIT: Comitè Econòmic d’Espectacles Públics], 1936. 8-3/4 x 12-3/4 in.; toned as expected with a few ink notations, partially backed with paper, good.

Broadside advertising the weekend schedule (Aug. 27-30, 1936) of three Catalonian theaters collectivized by the CNT/AIT during the first month of the Spanish Civil War. The schedule included three class-conscious Hollywood movies: Vivamos de Nuevo (We Live Again, 1934; based on Tolstoy’s Resurrection); El Payaso del Circo (Circus Clown, 1934); and Duro y La Cabeza (St. Louis Kid, 1934).

Unrecorded in OCLC.

$175

Teatre del Poble: La música a través del poeta

Comissió de Cultura de l’Ajuntament de Terrassa. Teatre del Poble: La Música a través del poeta. Terrassa, Spain: Salvatella, 1937. Tri-fold, single sheet program, folded: 8-1/2 x 6 in., [6] pp.; approx. 1/2 in. neat closed tear at bottom edge, else very good; signed in ink by soloists Matilde Viver and A. Pons I Guitart.

A concert of “sublime” music probably prepared or sponsored by the Republican Teatro del Pueblo which organized performances in Catalonia during the Civil War. Representative of a brief avant-garde uprising in a conservative suburb of Barcelona, where some traditionalist artists were imprisoned (including Salvador Salvatella, founder of the press which issued this program?).

$95

Nosotros: [Revista Mensual Anarquista]

(Giménez Igualda, Miguel). Nosotros: [Revista Mensual Anarquista]. Nos. 1 [Oct. 1937] and 5 (Feb. 1938). Valencia: Editorial Guerri, 1937-38. Two issues, 4to, each 48 pp.; paper wrappers toned with spotting, no. 5 corner bent, affecting a few subsequent pages, minor interior foxing.

Two of five issues of the short-lived serial published by anarchist Miguel Giménez Igualda during a critical period in the Spanish Civil War. Most of its articles are attributed to one of Giménez’s pseudonyms or to French anarchists including Han Ryner; Giménez was also associated with the international Teatro del Pueblo movement (no. 1 reprints materials related to Isaac Steinberg, [Rodolfo González] Pacheco, and the Teatro del Pueblo in Barcelona). Other content focuses on anarchist philosophy; arts; and antifascism.

OCLC finds no physical holdings in North America.

$250

On the Question of Homosexuals and the Party

(New Communist Movement – Homosexuality) On the Question of Homosexuals and the Party. N.p., n.d., [1973?]. (2) 8-1/2 x 14 in. sheets, [4] pp.; staple neatly removed, second sheet with minor stains verso.

Doctrinaire “Marxist Leninist defense of the line of the Continuations Committee on homosexuality,” arguing there is a “material basis for the exclusion of homosexuals from the party building movement.” The paper condemns the mores and metaphysics of the “depraved liberal bourgeoisie” and provides a materialistic, dialectical argument against homosexuality. Homosexuality is not a private question, it is a “social relation” that “replaces love and comradeship between the sexes with antagonism and hatred […] There is no way that such degenerates and exploiters can be admitted to […] the revolutionary party.”

The National Continuations Committee was part of the New Communist Movement: it emerged from a 1973 national party-building conference intended to create consensus between a number of Marxist-Leninist organizations. Its stated purpose was “a defense of the science of Marxism-Leninism and […] an all out assault on the CPUSA and all forms of revisionism.” Regional groups were formed to provide issue papers to the Continuations Committee, and this appears to be one of them. Its vehement argument against sexual freedom and the factionalism that undermines class unity is an overwhelming repudiation of progressive politics and the American left.

Primary source document of the mixed history of communism and LGBTQ rights. No copies found in OCLC.

Ref. National Continuations Committee Newsletter No. 1 (January 1974).

$225

Sun Annual

(Nudism) Sun Annual. Nos. 1-3 (all published?). [Mays Landing, NJ]: Sunshine Publishing, [1959-1961]. Square 8vo, each 96 pp.; profusely illus. with b/w reproductions of nudist photography and a few color spreads, in stapled color pictorial wraps, covers lightly worn, else very good.

An annual roundup of international “social nudism” by the publishers of Sun Magazine. Photo essays and texts explore nudist vacations in the US and Europe, with topics relevant to foreign customs and campgrounds. A number of essays are of special interest: including the value of the Polaroid to the nudist community, a lengthy review of the “first” nudist movie, “Nature’s Paradise” (1959), and sociological commentary about the evolving nudist movements in Britain, Denmark, and France: “The Silent Revolution.”

OCLC locates two holdings, at least one complete: Indiana (Kinsey) and Rutgers.

$350

65th Commemoration, Paris Commune, at Webster Hall

(Humphrey, Doris) [International Labor Defense, N.Y. District]. 65th Commemoration, Paris Commune at Webster Hall. New York: International Labor Defense, 1936. Flyer, 8-1/4 x 5-3/4; torn and chipped, missing top right corner.

Advertising a March concert commemorating the Paris Commune, with performances by modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey and her partner Charles Weidman, and a lecture by Robert Minor, political cartoonist and a leader of the American Communist Party.

$65

Art: The Independent Review. No. 1 (Dec. 1987) and No. 2 (Mar. 1988)

[Art] [South Africa] Hitge, Margaret, Ed. Art: The Independent Review. No. 1 (Dec. 1987) and No. 2 (Mar. 1988). Broederstroom, South Africa: Bruce Attwood, 1987-1988.

Two issues, 8vo, 96 pp. and 92 pp.; profusely illus. with b/w and color reproductions; color illus. wrappers, No. 1 shaken, front wrapper rubbed, with creases and closed tears.

Nearly complete run (lacking final issue) of scarce arts serial by artists; straight talk with relatively informal reviews and discussion of political and artistic realities of South African art world in the late 1980s. Essays and advertisements express deep anti-apartheid views, but also reflect positions of privilege. Notable articles include “Across the Color Line,” by David Koloane and “Women Artists Need Wives,” by Judith Mason.

OCLC finds only 2 incomplete holdings in North America, one complete run in the world.

$150

Apóstrofes: Revista de la Escuela de Periodismo Universidad Católica. Año I, No. 1–No. 3

[Chile] [Student Movement] Apóstrofes: Revista de la Escuela de Periodismo Universidad Católica. Año I, No. 1 (May 1982)–No. 3 (Sept.-Oct. 1982) (all published?). Santiago, Chile: 1982. 8vo, three issues: 23 pp., [25] pp., [21] pp.; side-stapled mimeograph with illus. wrappers, b/w reproductions of orig. graphics, including cartoons, collage, and photography, light edge-wear and toning at extremities, No. 2 toned, front wrap with small crease.

When the left-wing Popular Unity party (led by Salvador Allende) came to power in 1970, they reached an agreement to undo previous limits on the freedom of the press in Chile. This brief period of pluralism was silenced by the Pinochet coup in 1973, which ushered in not only an era of censorship, persecution, and state-sponsored journalism, but also a period in which opposition journalists were imprisoned, tortured, and “disappeared.”

It is within this context that students at the Journalism School at Santiago’s Catholic University began publishing this short-lived serial, questioning the role and relevance of the professional journalist in Chile. Beginning as a general inquiry into the conditions of journalism and teaching, the tone shifts, rejecting university and national hierarchies and censorship. No. 3’s headline “Renacer del Movimiento Estudiantil,” declares the rebirth of the student movement following the arrest and torture of Marcela Palma, secretary general of El Centro de Estudiantes de la Universidad Católica (and sister of the leftist paramilitary Ricardo Palma). Articles report on colleagues in exile and the duty of the journalist to justice and critical thinking.

No copies found in OCLC or direct searches of Chilean national online catalogues.

$275

Recueil des instruments de chirurgie orthopédie et mobiliers

[Trade Catalogue]. [Medicine]. Maison Mathieu. Recueil des instruments de chirurgie orthopédie et mobiliers: nouvellement construits ou perfectionnés. Année 3, No. 2 (Sept. 1908). Paris: 1908. 8vo, 16 pp.; illus. with photographic reproductions and technical drawings; orig. printed wrapper, contents neatly removed from staples, wrapper toned with light wear at extremities; additional plate and advertisement laid in.

Instruments of surgery, predominantly for amputation, and prosthetics. Add’l plate with 2 graphic images of an amputation.

OCLC locates no holdings with this issue statement.

$45

Collection of 31 photographs of Chilean modern dance pioneer Andrée Haas

[Modern Dance] [Chile]. Collection of 31 photographs of Chilean modern dance pioneer Andrée Haas. Comprised of 21 medium format prints: each trimmed to approx. 9 x 6-1/2 in.; and nine other prints: seven approx. 5 x 7 in. and two smaller; together with an undated playbill for a Andrée Haas performance at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago de Chile: 12-3/4 x 9-1/8 in. Fourteen of the photographs by Ignacio Hochhäusler, identified by recto ink signatures and/or studio stamps verso; six by Georges [Jorge] Sauré, signed in ink recto. Most good with light rubbing or toning, some with adhesive or adhered paper verso, a few edge worn, two with small losses at edge. Santiago de Chile: ca. 1930-1940.

Early modern dance in Chile was influenced greatly by the Swiss dancer Andrée Haas (1908-1981), a student of Émile-Jaques Dalcroze and founder of the first modern dance program at the University of Chile in 1928. Along with her colleague Elsa Martin, who studied with Mary Wigman, Haas taught new approaches to dance influenced by modern music, psychoanalysis, and personal expression.

Haas included coursework in gymnastics, eurhythmics, free dancing, choreography, pantomime, and other techniques drawn from Dalcroze, Wigman, and Rudolf Laban. As the only modern dance teacher in Chile until the late 1930s, her classes were the principal origin for most of the first generation of Chilean modern ballet dancers, including Malucha Solarí. Her program and many well-reviewed performances in Santiago during the 1930s have been described as a critical element of the explosion in public appetite for avantgarde arts in Chile during this period. These performances came well before Kurt Joos’s South American tour in 1940, often described, perhaps unjustly, as the seminal moment in Chilean modern dance history.

This group of photographs documents the expressive and gestural movement that Haas popularized in Chile. Many of the prints are by Georges [Jorge] Sauré and Ignacio Hochhäusler, both well-known portraitists of Chilean artists and intelligentsia.

Most of the images are identifiable as Haas, ca. 1930, from a similar image in the catalogue of the Salon des Independientes, 1931. A few photos somewhat later, two group photographs, and two headshots of other performers, probably Elsa Martin.

See María José Cifuentes, Historia Social de la Danza en Chile (Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2007); Andrée Haas, “La Escuela de Danza del Instituto de Extension Musical,” Revista Musical Chilena, Año I, No. 7-8 (1945): 19-26; Eduardo Lira Espejo, “La Danza Sintesis Expresiva,” Revista de Arte Vol. 3, No. 13 (1937): 22-26; and Yolanda Montecino de Aguirre, “El ballet nacional chileno: perspectiva histórica y humana,” Revista Musical Chilena, Año 16, No. 80 (1962): 9-30.

$2250

Books from the estate of Mark Tobey

[Tobey, Mark.] Glover/Hayes. Books from the estate of Mark Tobey. Seattle: 1982. 4to, 12 pp.; stapled mimeographed sales list of 143 books “signed by, or inscribed to, Mark Tobey,” dated in pen, minor creases from folds, good condition.

We can find no other record of this sale of books from the American abstract painter’s estate. The annotated list describes signatures and inscriptions.

$75

Dara Birnbaum: Video

Birnbaum, Dara and Erkki Huhlama. Dara Birnbaum: Video. Catalogue for an exhibition held at Norrtälje Konsthall, April 8-June 10, 1995. Norrtälje, Sweden: Norrtälje Konsthall, 1995.

Folded single sheet exh. cat. with color illus., opens to poster, folded: 6-1/2 x 6-1/2 in. open: 26 x 39 in.; outside panels sl. wear, else very good.

$25

Willem Sandberg. Three Stedelijk Museum Exhibition Catalogues, 1935-1941.

[Willem Sandberg]. Three Stedelijk Museum Exhibition Catalogues, 1935-1941.

1. Stedelijk Museum. Bouwkunst en verwante kunsten: tentoonstelling, georganiseerd door de Tentoonstellingsraad voor bouwkunst en verwante kunsten, ter gelegenheid van het 80-jarig jubileum van het genootschap Architectura et Amicitia, van 23 Nov. t/m. 15 Dec. 1935, in het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam. Amsterdam: Architectura et Amicitia, [1935].

First edition. 8vo, 63, [5] pp.; exhibition catalog of Dutch architecture and applied arts with graphics and typography by Willem Sandberg, illustrated throughout, with orig. illus. color wrpps., a bit rubbed with small closed split at front hinge.

Includes an introduction by architect M.J. Granpré Molière and checklist of the exhibition. A very rare catalogue with an exemplary abstract cover design by the legendary graphic designer, curator, director of the Stedelijk, and member of the Dutch Resistance, Willem Sandberg. OCLC locates only 2 holdings in North America, one in the US.

2. Stedelijk Museum and C.W.H. Baard. 40 jaar Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam: Tentoonstelling van Hedendaagsche, Monumentale Kunst, 14 September – 13 October 1935. [Amsterdam]: [Stedelijk Museum], [1935].

First edition. 8vo, 51 pp.; exhibition catalogue with forward by Stedelijk director C.W.H. Baard and 24 b/w pls. reproducing works from the checklist, color wrpps. designed by Willem Sandberg, sl. darkened, small numbered tag on spine.

“Ontwerp Sandberg” printed in lowercase on rear wrapper. OCLC finds 7 copies in North America, only 2 outside museum libraries (Harvard and Toronto).

3. Stedelijk Museum and J Q van Regteren Altena, et al. In Holland staat een huis: het interieur van 1800 tot heden : tentoonstelling in het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Juli-October 1941. Amsterdam: Satdsdrukkerij, [1941].

First edition. Oblong 8vo, 64 pp.; exhibition catalogue with short introduction the history of Dutch interior design followed by room-by-room descriptions with photographic illus. (arranged chronologically by alphabet from 1800-1940), in color wrpps. with folding floor-plan of exhibition in rear wrapper, typography and design by Willem Sandberg, some edge-wear. OCLC records 8 North American institutional holdings.

$175

Çayir Yapraklari (Leaves of Grass)

​Whitman, Walt. Trans. Suat Tașer. Çayir Yapraklari [Leaves of Grass]. Ankara: Buket Basimevi, 1961. Oblong 12mo unfolds to 6 x 23 cm; 19 pp. excerpted translations from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, incl. 5 pp. intro. (in translation) by prominent American editor and socialist Max Eastman; color illus. wrpps. sl. soiled with small stain rear cover, pages separated from internal staple (wrappers still glued). The translator was an important Turkish poet and political activist.

Scarce, OCLC finds only 3 copies in North America.

$325

COLLECTION OF PROPAGANDA PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SECCIÓN FEMENINA

40 silver gelatin prints: 36 approx. 5 x 7”, near fine, all stamped verso identifying two SS-PK photographers, [Bruno] Wisniewski and Ege, some with a “Sachregister” stamp and numbered pencil annotations verso; 3 smaller, approx. 3 x 4”, good; one 4 x 6” mounted to toned card, rubbed with a few scratches.

The Sección Femenina [SF] was officially recognized by General Franco following the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. Its mandate was to organize and educate women to be full participants in the reconstruction of the nation according to Falangist/fascist principles. To this end the SF had to reconcile politically conservative and religious (Catholic) doctrine with the modern social realities of the 1940s. It found itself in the awkward position of arguing strongly for the higher education of women and girls while rejecting “feminist intellectualism”. Similarly, it had to promote the ideal woman at home while providing a model for women whose membership in the workforce was an economic necessity.

The model of ideal femininity central to this mission had to be flexible enough to contain these contradictions. The photos in this collection exemplify this elastic image of womanhood, depicting SF leaders and members engaged in the wide variety of activities promoted by the organization. These include history and music classes, field hockey, cooking, sewing, childcare, and patriotic events. As a group they reflect the inherent ambivalence of the SF: an independent and powerful network of educated women that offered its members “an unusual level of public activism, both professionally and politically”, while preaching traditional ideology.

The Nazi Waffen-SS Propagandakopanien (SS-PK) was formed in 1938 to provide wartime propaganda to domestic German audiences. SS-PK photographers were embedded in armed divisions and diplomatic corps; these photos of the Sección Femenina were probably taken between October 1940 (when Hitler and Franco met in southern Spain) and late 1941, when relations between the two countries deteriorated as it became clear Spain would not officially enter the war. The names of the two photographers appear in other SS-PK records.

$2250

Sala Permanente de Artes Plásticas de Cuba

Habana: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, n.d. (ca. 1955). 4to, 16 pp.; chiefly illustrations, with text describing the national collection of modern Cuban art and its installation in the brand new Palace of Fine Arts, designed by architect Alfonso Rodríguez Pichardo in color illus. wrpps., fair: rubbed with creases and warping, some small losses and a damp-stain affecting several pages (but not the images). Includes list of painters, sculptors, and printmakers whose work was publicly exhibited in this first iteration of the museum.

Very scarce celebration of Cuban modern art museum. OCLC locates 3 copies in North America.

$325

Publicité Divers

Publicité Divers [title from spine]. [Bordeaux, France]: 1939.

4to (10 x 12.5 in.), [112] pp.; cloth, spine with gilt title and date.

Professional? scrapbook album with approximately 90 vintage examples of graphic design mounted on 39 leaves, including menus; packaging for luxury goods and comestibles; personal calling cards; advertisements for automobiles and auto parts, textile, and machine companies; coupon books and stamps; and events, most for companies and brands in Bordeaux, many in color, all exemplifying French Art Deco design’s integration of bold geometries, angular composition, and modern typography. A majority of the examples are numbered consecutively from 162-244 with a discreet stamp. Gilt letters “C-L” on spine—contents loosely alphabetical, by product, not proper name (e.g., café, charbon de bois, chocolat, fromage, lessive). Many folding examples, most very good, some with areas of discoloration or wrinkled from paste. Album date is handwritten on first leaf in pencil, though some of the advertisements refer specifically to 1938.

More photographs available on request.

$450