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White, Edmund & Silverstein, Charles Dr..
THE JOY OF GAY SEX: AN INTIMATE GUIDE FOR GAY MEN TO THE PLEASURES OF A GAY LIFESTYLE.
New York City, NY:
Mitchell Beazley Publisher Limited,
1977.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
239 pages.
Fine.
Book-length guide/account on subject. Now considered a contemporary classic, it is Edmund White's first non-fiction book and is now rare. The true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, all of which were successively abridged and significantly revised. A brilliant production by Debra Zuckerman: Oversize-volume format. Hard boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on spine, as issued. Text by Edmund White and Dr. Charles Silverstein, a New York City-based psychiatrist who specializes in homosexuality. Illustrations by Michael Leonard, Ian Beck, and Julian Graddon. The illustrations are explicit yet tastefully rendered in a style that combines Tom of Finland with Paul Cadmus. Supplemented with full-color reproductions of sublime erotic art from the Western, Oriental (specifically, Japanese), Muslim, and Jewish ancient traditions. In protective plastic covers. Without DJ, not as issued. Presents one of the most popular, most lucid, and most beautifully written accounts on homosexual sex ever written. "A celebration of the sensual, the sexual, the wildly erotic, and most especially, the love one man can feel for another. It covers alphabetically such topics as androgyny, bondage, growing older, health, trade, wrestling, and everything in between that either an old hand or a neophyte needs to know about the gay life. Here is the happiest of how-to's combined with good, sound, and sympathetic advice from those who've been there and know what is needed" (Publisher's blurb). Not only gays could benefit from the book: "Many straights will find the book meaningful and educational" (The Houston Post). The great French philosopher Michel Foucault was one of the book's admirers, and well he should be, as many of the ideas in the book owed an immense debt to his work (White and Foucault were lifelong friends). In his "History of Sexuality", Foucault asserted that nearly all of the innovations in sexual behavior were invented and perfected by homosexuals: Oral sex, anal sex, and the refinement of the Marquis de Sade's clumsy proto-sadomasochist rituals. Sexual intercourse itself never had to be invented; from the beginning, it was about biology and procreation (and still is for most people). Foucault also noted that the only sexual contribution of the 20th century, "fisting" (also known as "fist-fucking"), was also a gay invention, not widely practiced at the time of the book's publication (nor today), and the subject of Robert Mapplethorpe's most painful photographs. Despite relentless, successive attempts, this book refuses to be suppressed or surpassed: Its illustrations were cut in subsequent editions. It was discarded or tucked away with the catastrophic arrival of AIDS. It was completely re-written (by Dr. Silverstein and Felice Picano) in light of AIDS. It is back, after a long hibernation, as the classic it was from Day One. A "must-have" title for Edmund White collectors. This title has been out-of-print for almost thirty years. It has been reissued in multiple subsequent editions, which are worth reading, but this is the edition to own. This copy comes with another copy, of the First Softcover Edition, prominently and beautifully signed on the title page by both Edmund White (in black fountain pen) and Dr. Charles Silverstein (in black pen). This is the only such set (the First Hardcover Edition and signed First Softcover Edition) available online and is in unusually fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, an unread collector's set. A rare, one-of-a-kind set thus. Edmund White is one of the finest living American writers. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER EDMUND WHITE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0517531585. $200.00 |
