American Aphrodite. A Quarterly for the Fancy Free. Volume 1, No. 1.
New York, NY: American Aphrodite, 1954. First Edition. Hardcover. Large Octavo. 256pp. Black cloth with gilt titling to spine; red and gilt titling and illustration to upper board; b&w frontispiece and illustrations. The first issue of "American Aphrodite," a quarterly "racy men's journal" - nicely produced in hardcover form - that presented itself as a serious literary and artistic periodical "for the fancy-free." It tended to comprise various bawdy poems and stories from English literature of bygone centuries and whatever more modern titillating texts the editor, Samuel Roth, could scrape together, as well as sensuous line drawings, black and white photos studies of nudes, etc. Roth was known as an habitual literary pirate - and pornographer - for sometimes his publications did stray too far beyond the bounds of respectability. This first volume includes Crowley's "Hymn to Pan", which rather oddly was considered by some at the time to be obscene. This edition also includes, material by Rhys Davies, Sadakichi Hartmann, Patrick Kavanagh, Jacob Epstein, Sean O'Faolain, Filson Young, T.E. Lawrence, E. Beresford Chancellor, Keene Wallis' translation of Dante's Inferno etc. From the collection of Clive Harper with his discrete book-label neatly tipped in at the rear. Harper is well- known as the bibliographer of Austin Osman Spare, for updating the Aleister Crowley bibliography in the 2011 Teitan Press collection of Gerald Yorke's writings, and as someone who has lent his expertise to numerous other publications. Corners and spine ends lightly bumped and chafed, page edges darkened, pages toned and a few are a bit darkened and dusty at top edge, tiny split to front endpapers at inner margin, small numerical sticker on rear pastedown. Still - overall a tight clean VG+ copy in Good dust jacket. (Dust jacket rubbed; minor tears, chips and creases along edges and folds; not price clipped. Now protected by removable mylar cover.). Item #65102
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