Eros Magazine (4 Book set) 1962

Eros Magazine (4 Book set). 1962 large hardcovers. Each is approx. 80 to 96 pages, very nice condition (cover of issue 1 has slight staining). $80 for the full set of 4

To purchase, click the Big Cartel link in our bio...available for shipping or instore pickup.

Eros was an American quarterly hardbound periodical containing articles and photo-essays. The magazine was the first product of Ralph Ginzburg and Herb Lubalin who later created two other influential magazines, namely Fact and Avant Garde. Only four issues of Eros were ever published, largely because Ginzburg was indicted under federal obscenity laws for the publishing the magazine.

The first issue of the magazine appeared in Spring 1962. The focus of the magazine was on love and sex during the dawning of the Sexual Revolution. It also covered articles on politics, arts and literature. The third issue of the magazine featured the photographs of Marilyn Monroe just before her death which caused an obscenity lawsuit against Ginzburg by then U.S. Attorney General, Robert Kennedy. The magazine sold nearly 150,000 copies of this issue. The reason for the lawsuit was the claim that the magazine had violated federal anti-obscenity laws. Ginzburg was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, but he only remained in prison for eight months. Following this incident the magazine was closed down.

Issue 1 features short stories by Ray Bradbury and Guy de Maupassant, an extract from Eric Partridge's "vulgar dictionary" and poems by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

Issue 2 features photo essays about John F Kennedy, French prostitutes, and erotic statues in India, and was the first publication in a magazine of Mark Twain's short story "1601."

Issue 3 is the legendary issue that features the last studio portraits of Marilyn Monroe taken by Bert Stern six weeks before her death. 18 pages of Marilyn.

Issue 4 features Love in the Bible, short stories by Ray Bradbury and a piece by Allen Ginsburg.

Each issue is total quality and it’s a shame the magazine did not continue.