New Arrivals

Delve into the sensational world of 20th-century pulp fiction and the exploitation paperback. It primarily features examples of erotic and sexploitation fiction and non-fiction that developed during the latter half of the 20th century. Also included are examples of crime fiction, thrillers, sci-fi, biker novels, psychedelic and drug literature, and radical politics.

It is easy to dismiss many of the individual examples of this medium as basic smut. Even those displaying artistic merit are often cast aside as lowbrow. Yet the world of 20th-century paperbacks had a significant cultural impact, influencing countless artists and art forms. The themes and desires represented across this wide-ranging medium illuminate many of the urges that lie at the core of what it is to be human. When viewed in contextualised collections, this material offers a glimpse into the diverse currents of subcultures and countercultures which developed throughout the decades of the sexual revolution.

In this list, you will find a broad spectrum of heterosexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and fetish fiction and non-fiction. Many covers are finely illustrated and include some of the high points from the career of Eric Stanton. Other notable fetish artists such as Gene Bilbrew, Bill Alexander, and Bill Ward are also represented.

It was tempting to extend this list to include magazines and sexpapers, though they will have to wait for another day. With 217 items, the focus remains largely on the mass-market paperback, though a few larger-format examples from the Australian erotica press Howard Productions are included. Another Australian standout is a novelization based on the 1970s soap opera Number 96.

That said, I have included one additional medium: at the end of the list, you will find a fantastic selection of an earlier form of sensational erotic pulp publishing, the Tijuana Bible. These short pornographic cartoon booklets originated in the United States in the early 20th-century and were produced by unknown artists and publishers until the early 1960s. Often referred to as “eight-pagers” due to their near uniform page count, these underground comics frequently parodied celebrities and beloved cartoon characters in short highly sexualised, erotic escapades.

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