Checklist / A complete, cumulative Checklist of lesbian, variant and homosexual fiction, in English or available in English translation, with supplements of related material, for the use of collectors, students and librarians.

The Poetry of Lesbiana

An index of Poems and Poets
of interest to
Collectors of Lesbiana

Compiled by Gene Damon

THE ANCIENT WORLD:

Erinna—only one fragment left.Available in the Greek Anthology and other miscellaneous collections of that type.

Nossis—Various variant poems and fragments.Greek Anthology, Putnam, 1915-26 (5 vol.)Also in similar collections.

Sappho—The classic poet of lesbianism.Over 50 editions available in hard covers.New translation by Mary Barnard, University of California Press, 1958, qpb $1.25.An attractive edition is also published for $2.50 by the Pater Pauper Press, on display in most bookstores.

Juvenal—Satires.Many editions in hardcover and qpb.(Rolfe Humphries trans.and ed.the Indiana University Press, 1958, $1.50; also number 997 in Everyman’s Library, $1.85.)The Sixth Satire.

Martial—His “Epigrams” contain various references to lesbians.Cambridge University Press, 1924, $2.75.

THE MIDDLE AGES:

Ariosto, Ludovico—Orlando Furioso.London, Bell, 1907.

Labe, Louise—Love Sonnets (trans.by Frederick Prokosch), New Directions, 1947, $2.50, still in print.

Shakespeare, William—The first 27 of the “Sonnets” are generally adjudged to be male-homosexual in emphasis and are therefore of interest to collectors in this field.

THE ROMANTIC POETS—19th CENTURY:

Coleridge, Samuel T.—Christabel.Long narrative poem of a curious attachment between a guileless young girl and a female demon; available in virtually every anthology of English literature.

Rossetti, Christina—Goblin Market.Lovely and fantastic poem with distinctly variant overtones.See anthologies of English literature.

Romani, Felice—Norma.Italian libretto for the opera by Vincenzo Bellini, generally adjudged to be subtly lesbian in overtones.Many translations are available in collections of opera libretti, but most English translations edit out the variant content or alter the emphasis.

Baudelaire, Charles—The Flowers of Evil, (trans.from the French of Les Fleurs du Mal by Edna St.Vincent Millay and George Dillon) N.Y.Harper, 1936, also New Directions, pbr, 1958.Many other editions and translations available.

Swinburne, Algernon Charles—Poems and Ballads, 2 vols, London, Chatto & Windus, 1893, 1895.Many of the poems in this series are explicitly or implicitly lesbian.In the interests of space limitation, only the major titles will be listed for those who want to sift through anthologies; Anactoria, Fragoletta, Sapphics, At Eleusis, Sonnet with a copy of Mlle.de Maupin, The Masque of Queen Bersabe, Erotion.The entire series of Poems and Ballads is available in her no.961, Everyman’s Library, Dutton, 1940, 50, for $1.95.

Louÿs, Pierre—Songs of Bilitis.Many editions available, the most easily located probably being the Liveright “Collected works of Pierre Louys”, $3.50.There is also a paperback edition, Avon Red and Gold Library, no date.The “Songs” have been published singly in numerous privately printed and illustrated editions, some of which are very beautiful collector’s items.

Brontë, Emily—Complete Poems. N.Y.Columbia University Press, 1941 (still in print at $4.00).A scattering of these poems are (or can be interpreted as) vaguely variant.

Mencken, Idah Isaacs—Infelicia.Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1875.(Rare, and expensive.)

Field, Michael—(pseud.of two Englishwomen.)Entire work of lesbian interest and a “must” for completists.Most medium to large public libraries have some of their work.

Dickinson, Emily—Bolts of Melody.N.Y.Harper, 1945.Also variant poems are scattered throughout her earlier editions.(Selected Poems, Modern Library, 1948, $1.65.)

THE MODERN POETS:

Lowell, Amy—No one volume of her work can be singled out; her poems are perhaps the most openly variant of any of the English or American poets.Her “Complete Poetical Works” is still in print; Boston, Houghton & Mifflin Co., 1955; Introduction by Louis Untermeyer, $6.00.

O’Neill, Rose—The Master Mistress.N.Y.Knopf, 1922.The creator of the “Kewpies” also was the writer of these sensitive, occasionally erotic poems. Perhaps a dozen are explicitly lesbian.

Hall, Radclyffe—Poems of the Past and Present, London, Chapman & Hall, 1910.Songs of Three Counties, Chapman & Hall, 1913.The Forgotten Island, London, Chapman & Hall, 1915.Sheaf of Verses, London, Chapman & Hall, 1905.Twixt Earth and Stars, London, Chapman & Hall, 1906.

These poems by the author of “Well of Loneliness” are so overt that it is almost unbelievable that they were printed at all, but they were, and I have the books to prove it ...she managed to get away with it, I guess, because she talks in these poems as if she were a man, writing to a woman.

Millay, Edna St.Vincent—Collected Poems, N.Y.Harper, 1956, $6.00.This is the favored anthology of Millay for this purpose, since it contains everything of hers which is variant in tone.However, there are many single volumes of her poetry available, and also pbrs; Collected Lyrics (Washington Square, 50¢), and Collected Sonnets (Washington Square, 50¢).

Sackville-West, Victoria—King’s Daughter, N.Y.Doubleday, 1930.

Sterling, George—Strange Waters.Privately printed, n.d., also in American Esoterica, N.Y.Macy-Masius, 1927.Lengthy narrative poem of supposed incestuous lesbianism ...shocker.

Doolittle, Hilda (H.D.)—Red Roses for Bronze, London, Lord, Chatto & Windus.Also the Grove Press qpb, Selected Poems of H.D., 1957; this, however, does not contain the best-known of Sappho paraphrases, “Fragment Thirty-six”.Also “Collected Poems”, Liveright, $2.50.

Pitter, Ruth—English poetess, whose work is rather difficult to locate in this country.Many of her early poems are tinged with variance and well worth the effort of locating them in large libraries.

Smith, Alicia Kay—Only in Whispers.Privately printed; Falmouth, Rockport, Maine.This is the hardest book on this list to obtain, and of course, the most overt.Ardently but in good taste, this tells of a lengthy and beautiful lesbian affair.A “must” book for serious collectors who like poetry.

Wright, James—The Green Wall.Yale University Press, 1957, $3.00.Two overt poems in an excellent and sensitive collection.

variant films

compiled by LauraJean Ermayne and Gene Damon

With the exception of a few privately filmed and circulated stag films, which of course do not come within the scope of this study, lesbianism is treated only vaguely and by indirection in motion pictures. Hollywood codes (which regulate distribution even of foreign films in this country) state unequivocally that homosexuality may not be portrayed or suggested(Italixs mine).Even when the predominantly homosexual novel COMPULSION was filmed, the script—though including a rape scene—was fudged so that the relationship between the two boys was never hinted at—except vaguely in one scene, where Orson Welles as the great lawyer said that the opposition might find “something fishy” in the fact that they had no other friends.Your editor has since been informed that the movie NEVER SO FEW portrayed recognizable homosexuals.Hollywood codes are growing less stringent by the day, with the general relaxation of censorship, and by next year there should be some additions to this list.Thanks are due to Miss Ermayne for allowing us to reprint the material used in her article on The Sapphic Cinema in THE LADDER for March, 1959 ...the Editors.

THE ADVENTURES OF KING PAUSOLE.Filmed in France in 1932, with Emil Jannings.Based on the Pierre Louys novel, this starred 366 models and dancers from the Folies bergeres; among these near-nude and nubile nymphs was one disguised as a male ballet dancer, with whom the King’s daughter Aline had a romance even after discovering that they were of the same sex.

ALL ABOUT EVE took the Academy Award in 1950.There is a very lesbian situation used to introduce the main protagonist into the movie; later events proved the woman only pretending lesbian-type devotion, but the inference, in the beginning, is clear and unmistakable.(GD)

THE BARKER 1928.A short silent picture which was banned in many cities because it featured a scene in which a very butchy type in men’s pajamas got into bed with a fluffy blonde type; caused a lot of critical hoop-la.(GD)

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR, a film based on the Lillian Hellman play reviewed in this Checklist, bears a question mark; will someone who has seen the picture please let us know whether lesbian content was implicit in the movie?

CHILDREN OF LONELINESS, outright anti-homophile propaganda, was mostly male-oriented, but did contain a gay night-club scene, and picture and office butch whose offer of affection and protection drove one girl to a psychiatrist’s couch—where she was counselled against “abnormal love”.

DARK VICTORY.1939, recently shown on TV, concerns a talented, charming woman (Bette Davis) dying of a brain tumor; her constant companion and secretary is clearly in love with her, and there were numerous beautiful and heartbreaking scenes, some of which would be impossible in a movie not dealing with such a sad situation.

CLUB DES FEMMES (Girl’s Club in English) an admirable French film starring Danielle Darieux, reviewed at length in THE LADDER.The lesbian element is treated explicitly and with taste and charm.

ESCAPE TO YESTERDAY, a French film with one brief sequence in a cabaret, where recognizably lesbian types were portrayed.

MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM, a classic German film of the thirties, reviewed at length in J H Foster’s book, starring Hertha Thiele as Manusia and Dorothea Wieck as her teacher.The film has recently been re-made but has not yet reached the USA.

THE GODDESS, an art film released about a year ago, starring Kim Stanley, shows the life of an unwanted child who grows up to be a movie queen and ends up living with her secretary, obviously a lesbian; the relationship is portrayed with unusual frankness.This movie is still playing in specialty theatres around the big cities.

NO EXIT, a French film of the play by Jean-Paul Sartre; setting, limbo; one of the characters, a lesbian who fell in love with a married woman and drove her to suicide by spooking her.

OPEN CITY, realistic Italian film of 10 years or so ago, had a recognizable lesbian type-cast in it.

PIT OF LONELINESS, a French film based on the novel OLIVIA and starring Simone Simon.“Something of a disappointment” says LJE.

QUEEN CHRISTINA, 1934.This famous screen classic starred Greta Garbo; the variant bits were minor, but they were there.(GD)

ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE 1939.Now-dated tear-jerker starring Alice Faye; in one long scene the heroine sings standing by a piano, while a clearly seen, very mannish and extremely obvious “type” drools over her.Not imagination; this one was the veddy veddy correct, monocled type.(GD)

SIGN OF THE RAM, a filming circa 1947 of the Margaret Ferguson novel, starred Susan Peters as the wheelchaired heroine; the “crush” between Leah and Christine was treated vaguely but recognizably to anyone who had read the book.

TIME OF DESIRE.“Much has been made of the Uranian aspect of this film but personally I couldn’t see it....”LJE

TORST (“Thirst”) directed by Ingmar Bergman, is supposed to tell the lives of three women strangely in love, including a lesbian.As yet none of your editors or contributors have seen the film.

TURNABOUT, the Thorne Smith sex-farce where a man’s ego is transmuted into a woman’s body.

TITLE UNKNOWN; 1950 or 1951; French with English subtitles; action took place in a girl’s reformatory, much reference to lesbianism and some overt scenes; one where a girl caressed the breast of another and whispered love words to her, another where a tough street type tells a young innocent “See these marks on my thighs, they are each the marks of a lover, the left leg for boys and the right for girls.”I don’t see any other way to interpret that scene.(GD)

THE END, OF COURSE, IS NOT YET.

related publications Information about the following publishers in the field of homosexual studies was supplied by the editors; we at the Checklist assume no responsibility for this information.We have, however, been constant readers of all three of these magazines and can recommend them as dignified, worthwhile and occasionally scholarly pioneering in a neglected field; they deserve support.

ONE, INCORPORATED.232 South Hill Street, Los Angeles 12, California.Non-profit organization, established in 1952, concerned with the problems and interests of homosexual men and women; publishers of;

	ONE Magazine, monthly.Five dollars per year, fifty cents per copy.Sent first class, sealed.Editor Don Slater; Woman’s editor, Alison Hunter.Editorials, fiction, poetry, articles, book reviews, letters, artwork.Special attention given to the Feminine Viewpoint.Fiction, articles, poetry by and about the lesbian.
	ONE Institute Quarterly; Homophile Studies.Official Organ of One Institute, a university-level facility presenting classes on the history, biology, sociology and psychology of homosexuality.Articles include scholarly evaluation of literary figures such as Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman, homosexuality and religion, etc. Five dollars per year, $1.50 single copy.Editor James Kepner, Jr.

THE DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS, INC.165 O’Farrell St, Room 405, San Francisco, Calif.A woman’s organization for promoting the integration of the homosexual into society; membership limited to woman.Emphasis on education of the variant to promote adjustment and self-understanding, and education of the public at large through acceptance of the individual.Publishers of;

THE LADDER.Monthly, $4.00 a year, 50¢ single copy, mailed first class sealed.Editor, Del Martin.Fiction and poetry of special interest, letters from readers, book reviews and a running column of lesbiana managed by Gene Damon, reports on special study and discussion groups, and the conductors of a recent survey on lesbians personally.

THE MATTACHINE SOCIETY, 693 Mission Street, San Francisco, California.Founded 1950, Incorporated 1954; purpose, to conduct projects of education, research and social service in sex problems, particularly those of homosexual adults.Publishers of;

MATTACHINE REVIEW, monthly, offset printed, circulation 2250; $5 a year, 50¢ single copy, mailed sealed; issued annually in bound volumes, indexed at end of each year.Reflects the policies and purpose of the Mattachine Society with scientific articles, research reports, news of sexological trends, book reviews, letters from readers, a small amount of fiction and annual poetry supplement.Hal Call, Editor.

DORIAN BOOK QUARTERLY.$2 a year, 50¢ per copy.Primarily concerned with books and periodicals on socia-sexual themes, particularly fiction and non fiction dealing with homosexuality and related themes.Purpose; to fight censorship and encourage publishing in this field.Advertising accepted, reviews and news of books in the field solicited.Controlled circulation.Harold L.Call, Editor.

SEE ALSO FOR COLLECTORS ONLY

collectors only

Every year, following the publication of the Checklist, we receive a number of queries.Where, they want to know, can we buy these books?We can only tell you where we buy books; and have therefore assembled the following list of reputable dealers, mail order, who handle these books and many others.

WINSTON BOOK SERVICE, 250 Fulton Avenue; Hempstead, New York. Successor to the famous Cory Book Service which was founded by Donald Webster Cory, author of “The Homosexual in America”. This is perhaps the best American source for current novels in hard covers and non-fiction. They issue catalogs and lists, give a sizable discount for large orders, and will also locate hard-to-find or out-of-print books. Leslie Laird Winston, who is the presiding genius here, is one of the nicest people to deal with that we have ever known. Every month they feature some new or special book in the field, at a special price. Getting on their mailing list is the best thing that can happen to a collector.

DORIAN BOOK SERVICE, 693 Mission Street, San Francisco 5, California.A subsidiary of the Mattachine Review and the Pan-Graphic Press.They publish the Dorian Book Quarterly, dealt with elsewhere, and also a fat, fascinating catalogue listing several hundred titles of current hard-cover and paperback fiction.They can also furnish, or will locate, many out-of-print titles.My experience with them; prompt service, fast shipment, up-to-date information on cheap reprints of rare titles.

VILLAGE BOOKS AND PRESS, 114-116 Christopher Street, New York 14, New York.This is the outfit behind the Noel Garde bibliography of Homosexual Literature, mentioned in the editorial.They can still supply this biblio list for $1.50.They also issue lists at frequent intervals, and will search for hard-to-find and out-of-print titles.Prices seem reasonable considering the scarcity of some of the paperbacks he handles.The proprietor, Howard Frisch, is one of the most co-operative dealers in the business.

ONE Magazine, listed in “Related Publications” has published one volume of short stories, and is soon to do more publishing; they also list several dozen books sold by mail order.

THE LADDER, listed in “Related Publications”, is soon to set up a book service; their first special release will be Jeannette Howard Foster’s “Sex Variant Women in Literature”, so keep your eyes open.

THE TENTH MUSE, bookshop managed by Julia Newman, 326 West 15th St, New York 11, New York, also does some mail order business.Write for a list.

A POINTS NORTHE, unusual bookshop at 15 Robinson Street, in Oklahoma City, managed by James Neill Northe, into which your senior editor virtually stumbled during a rainstorm, specializes in very rare, esoteric and65 scholarly titles, curiosa, etc. He can supply even the most fantastically rare stuff; prices are in line with the rarity of the items wanted. (It was Mr. Northe who, with disinterested kindness, supplied some biblio data on the real rarities on the list; he has our thanks and endorsement.)

BOOKPOST, C.Rogers, Box 3251, San Diego 3, California.This outfit specializes in Americana, but can supply almost anything.The prices here are the most reasonable I’ve ever encountered; if Rogers quotes you a price, there’s no point in shopping around for a lower one.

INTERNATIONAL BOOKFINDERS, P O Box 3003, Beverly Hills, California.These people are the out-of-print bookfinders par excellence.I’ve ordered many books from them; their prices are reasonable, never exorbitant; their service is good, the books they supply are always of high quality.They’re nice to deal with.I’ve never had a complaint in ten years of bookhunting.

RAYMOND TRANFIELD, Antiquarian Book Dealer, 31 Hart Street, Henley-Upon-Thames, Oxon, England, is probably the best source for older books published in England.His prices are reasonable, his service is fast (he quotes by airmail and sends his parcels insured, which is a blessing for anything which has to travel across the ocean).

 

paperbacks

Paperbacks.We hate them and we love them.The worst rubbish, and the best literature brought within the reach of a slim budget.If you missed it on the news-stands, all is not lost....

ACE BOOKS Inc, 23 West 47th Street, New York 36, New York. (25¢)

AVON Books; Avon Publications, Inc. , 575 Madison Ave, N. Y. 22, N. Y. (35¢ & 50¢)

BALLANTINE BOOKS Inc. , 101 Fifth Ave, New York 3, N. Y. (35¢)

BEACON BOOKS, 117 East 31st St, New York 16, N. Y. (35¢ or 3 for one dollar)

BERKLEY Publishing Corp. , 146 West 57th St, New York 19, N. Y.

CREST and GOLD MEDAL books, Fawcett Publications, Greenwich, Connecticut.

CARDINAL editions, POCKET BOOKS and PERMABOOKS, Pocket Books, Inc, 630 Fifth Avenue, New York 20, N. Y. Free catalogue on request.

NEWSSTAND LIBRARY EDITIONS (Magenta Books, and others), 3143 Diversey Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Free lists sent on request.

BANTAM BOOKS, 25 West 45th Street, New York 36, N. Y.

DELL BOOKS, Dell Publishing Corp. Inc, 750 Third Avenue, New York 17, NY

PYRAMID BOOKS, 444 Madison Avenue, New York 22, New York.

POPULAR LIBRARY, Hillman Books and others, do not print their address in the books and evidently don’t want to bother with mail orders. If you miss them on the news-stands, you’ll have to root in second-hand stores. Saber and Fabian Books can be ordered through the Dorian Book Service, and some secondhand book dealers will locate paperbacks, including; Village Books and Press, above.

BEDSIDE and BEDTIME books, (50¢ each) 200 West 34th Street, New York, N. Y.

hardcover publishers

Compiled by Kerry Dame

Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. —35 W. 32nd St, NYC 1, N. Y.

Arco Publishing Co. , Inc. —480 Lexington Ave. NYC 17, NY

Arkham House; Publishers. —Sauk City, Wisconsin.

A. S. Barnes & Co. —11 E. 36th St, NYC 16, NY

Barnes & Noble, Inc. —105 Fifth Ave. NYC 3, NY

Beacon Press, Inc.—25 Beacon St, Boston 8, Mass.

Blakiston Co. —(see McGraw-Hill Book Co. , Inc.)

Bobbs-Merrill Co. , Inc. —717 Fifth Avenue, NY 22, NY

Borden Publishing Co. —3077 Wabash Avenue, Los Angeles 63, Cal.

Boxwood Press. —Box 7171, Pittsburgh 13, Penna.

C. F. Braun & Co. —1000 S. Fremont Ave, Alhambra, Calif.

Citadel Press. —222 Fourth Ave, NYC 3, NY

Clarion Press. —510 Madison Avenue, Room 700, NYC 22, NY

P. F. Collier & Son. —Library Division, 640 Fifth Avenue, NYC 19

Comet Press Books. —200 Varick St, NYC 14, N. Y.

F. E. Compton & Co. —1000 N. Dearborn St, Chicago 10, Illinois

Coward-McCann, Inc. —210 Madison Avenue, N. Y. C. 16, NY

Creative Age Press. —(see “Farrar, Straus & Cudahy”)

Criterion Books. —257 Fourth Ave, NYC 10, NY

Thomas Y. Crowell Co. —432 Fourth Ave, NYC 16, NY

Crown Publishers, Inc. —419 Fourth Avenue, NYC 16, NY

Dial Press, Inc. —461 Fourth Ave, NYC 16, NY

Dodd, Mead & Co. —432 Fourth Avenue, NYC 16, NY

Dorrance & Co. , Inc. —131 N. 20th St, Philadelphia 3, Penna.

Doubleday & Co. , Inc. —mail orders; Garden City, New York.

Dover Publications, Inc. —180 Varick Street, NYC 14, NY

Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc. —19 W. 40th St, NYC 18, NY

E. P. Dutton & Co. — 300 Fourth Avenue, NYC 10, NY

Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, Inc. —101 Fifth Avenue, NYC 3, NY

Frederick Fell, Inc. —386 Fourth Ave, NYC 16, NY

Fleet Publishing Corp. —70 E. 45th St, NYC 17, NY

Funk & Wagnalls Co. —153 E. 24th St, NYC 10, NY

Greenberg. —(see Chilton Co. , Book Division, 56th & Chestnut St, Philadelphia 39, Penna. —what became of Greenberg; NY?)

Grosset & Dunlap, Inc. —mail orders; 227 E. Center St, Kingsport, Tennessee.

Grove Press, Inc. —64 University Place, NYC 3, NY

Harper & Brothers. —49 E. 33rd St, NYC 16, NY

Hastings House, Publishers. —151 E. 50th St, NYC 22, NY

Henry Holt & Co. —383 Madison Ave, NYC 17, NY

Houghton, Mifflin Co. —2 Park St, Boston 7, Mass.

Indiana University Press. — Bloomington, Indiana.

Alfred E. Knopf Inc. —501 Madison Avenue, NYC 22, NY

Lane Publishing Co. —Menlo Park, Calif.

J. B. Lippincott Co. — East Washington Square, Philadelphia 5, Penna.

Little, Brown & Co. —34 Beacon Street, Boston 6, Mass.

Liveright Publishing Corp. —386 Fourth St, NYC 16, NY

Robert M. McBride. —235 Fourth Avenue, NYC 3, NY

McDowell, Oblensky, Inc. —219 E. 61st St, NYC (no zone listed)

McGraw-Hill Book Co. , Inc. —330 West 42nd St, NYC 36, NY

David McKay Co. , Inc. —119 West 40th St, NYC 18, NY

Macauley Co. —(Book Sales, Inc, 352 Fourth Ave, NYC 10, NY)

Macmillan Co. —60 Fifth Avenue, NYC 11, NY

Julian Messner, Inc. —8 W. 40th St, NYC 18, NY

Wm. Morrow & Co. , Inc. —425 Fourth Avenue, NYC 16, NY

New Directions,—333 Sixth Avenue, NYC 14, NY

Noonday Press, Inc. —80 E. 11th St, NYC 3, NY

Ottenheimer Publishers. —4805 Nelson Avenue, Baltimore 15, Md.

Pageant Press, Inc. —101 Fifth Avenue, NYC 3, NY

G. P. Putnam’s Sons. —210 Madison Avenue, NYC 16, NY

Rand McNally & Co. —Box 7600, Chicago 80, Illinois

Random House, Inc. —457 Madison Avenue, NYC 22, NY

Rinehart & Co. , Inc. —232 Madison Avenue, NYC 16, NY

Simon & Schuster, Inc. —Mail Orders; 136 West 52nd St, NYC 19, NY

Sagamore Press, Inc. —11 E. 36th St, NYC 16, NY

St. Martin’s Press, Inc. —175 Fifth Avenue, NYC 10, NY

Charles Scribners Sons. —597 Fifth Avenue, NYC 17, NY

Tudor Publishing Co—(Order From; Harlem Book Co. , 221 Fourth Ave. NYC 3, NY)

University of California Press, Berkeley 4, Calif.

Vanguard Press, Inc—424 Madison Ave. NYC 17, NY

Vantage Press, Inc. —120 West 31st St, NYC 1, NY

Viking Press. —625 Madison Avenue, NYC 22, NY

Wm. Sloane Associates. —(see Wm. Morrow & Co.)

World Publishing Co. —2231 W. 110th St, Cleveland 2, Ohio.

ADDENDA        Misfiled, dropped in copyright or, we goofed;

BRANDEL, MARC. The Choice. New York, Dial, 1950. no data.

CATTO, MAX. The Killing Frost. London, Wm. Heinemann, 1950, (m). Tense relationship between two circus performers motivates an unusual, and excellent mystery novel.

RAY, SANFORD. Satan’s Harvest. Saber Books pbo ca. 1957. Evening waster; a Mexican girl, Lupe, from a broken home, goes—with her older sister—into a brothel, but is “protected” from the advances of the men by the fact that the lesbian madame has taken a fancy to her. Lupe’s older sister burns the place down to free Lupe from this fate.

SAYRE, GORDON. (pseud. of Jack Woodford.) Wife to Trade. N. Y. Godwin, 1936. No reviews available, but probably racy stuff, not too badly written.

WILLINGHAM, CALDER. “The Sum of two Angles”, ss in The Gates OF HellN.Y.Vanguard, 1951.

YOUNG, FRANCES BRETT. White Ladies. NY, Harper 1935. A boarding-school tomboy, infatuated with a schoolteacher, finally comes to see her as a vampire, feeding on the emotions of the young.

behind the scenes

MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY, Editor and publisher of the Checklist, who attends to such minor chores as editorial format and manhandling the mimeograph, is by profession a writer of science fiction.Her work has appeared in virtually every science fiction magazine on the market.She is thirty years-old, lives in a small town in Texas, and her other interests are Italian opera, acrobatics and mountain climbing.

GENE DAMON, whose competent brain does the bibliographical work for the Checklist, is in her mid-twenties, lives in the midwest, and is a librarian; she previously worked as a book-keeper and on a large city newspaper.Her chief interests are classical music and the collecting of variant literature; her private library contains over 600 titles of lesbiana alone.It was the untiring, perfectionist efforts of Miss Damon which checked every biblio reference in this list; she also supplied a summary or precis for every title which the senior editor had not read.In general, Damon is the brains of the Checklist; MZB merely the brawn.

KERRY DAME, stencil-cutter, artist and printer’s devil, is in her early twenties and lives in New England with her mother and many cats. She is no stranger to the readers of the Ladder, who all know her gay, airy cover drawings.

LAURAJEAN ERMAYNE, contributor to Vice Versa, collector of lesbiana, specialist in films, and tireless hunter of the news-stands, lives in California and, under her own name, is a well-known editor and writer.

HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT: In a forgotten closet, your editor has just discovered a stack of copies of the ASTRA’S TOWER Checklist #3.We thought they’d all been destroyed.This is the last-year’s list, containing Royal Drummond’s “Digression”, and my account of a hassle with the fascinatin' Miss Apple.I want to get these things out of my broom closet, and my soul revolts at the thought of tossing the things into the trash burner for the edification of the garbage collector.Therefore, we will make the following offer.Mailing these things out by printed-matter, fourth class mail costs 7-1/2 cents.By first class mail, 12 cents postage is required.Envelopes cost something.If anyone wants these (who knows, they might be valuable as examples of prehistoric lesbiana some day) you can have then for a quarter (first class mail) or six for a dollar to pass around among your friends.Hurry up—I’m going to need my broom closet for the mimeograph when I get finished with this year’s Checklist.You’ll find the address on the titlepage.—And this is it—The End—Marion.