Between the Covers

Hardcover. Quarto. Measuring 10" x 11.5. Ring-bound blue cloth album. Approximately 260 black and white gelatin silver photographs, each 3" x 3". A few pieces of travel ephemera mounted in the album. Both album and all images are fine. The photo sequence begins in Paris and proceeds through the South of France and into Italy, with a brief detour to England, bracketed at front and rear by sailing notices (to Europe on the steamer *America*, departing May 14, 1949; returning from Liverpool on the R.M.S. *Parthia*, departing August 20th, 1949). All available evidence points to a couple, two men traveling together, meeting with friends along the way, almost all of them attractive young men. The majority of the images are carefully composed photographs of architectural details, markets, village squares, and cultural artifacts. A smaller but still substantial number of photographs are of the travelers at restaurants and cafes, lounging poolside and on the beach, and taking in the scenery; and a handful of skillful, well-crafted portraits of individuals. Although the subjects are unidentified, it seems a likely inference that the men were from the entertainment or show business world. All in all, an unusually full, carefully constructed album, offering an uncommonly intimate view of gay men traveling in 1949. We are occasionally put off, skeptical, or scornful of the use of the appellation "gay interest" used by dealers to refer to material that depicts the slightest affection between men, but in this case it seems appropriate.

Item #411910