Your Shopping Cart

Your shopping cart is empty!

Discover our bestsellers
Subtotal0 Items0
Go to Shopping Cart

Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 1: From 1900 to Post-WWII

70Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)Availability: In Stock
“Men’s magazine” is a euphemism for “sex magazine,” though when first conceived in Paris colorful illustrations, jokes and cartoons predominated. Volume 1 covers this genre from its sophisticated beginnings in 1900 to 1945, with over 700 rare covers and interiors from France, Germany, the U.S. and—surprisingly—Turkey.
Hardcover8.4 x 10.9 in.4.63 lb460 pages

“[An] impressive six-volume collection…”

monocle.com
“Hubba hubba! Dian Hanson’s History of Men’s Magazines might just be the perfect coffee table book series.”
I-D
Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 1: From 1900 to Post-WWII

Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 1: From 1900 to Post-WWII

70

The Birth of Sexy Publishing

How Paris and WWI spawned men’s magazines

The first commercial camera was introduced in 1839. By 1865 technology enabled ordinary men to create photographic negatives, and they immediately began taking and distributing photos of naked women. The French led the way, and it was the French who produced the first nude magazines in 1880, as souvenirs for patrons of Parisian music halls. Newsstand magazines followed, and the elegant La Vie Parisienne (Paris Life), full of sexy fiction and illustrations, debuted in 1914. It might all have stayed in Paris if not for WWI, when German and American troops carried the magazines home. American Wilford Fawcett launched Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang (named after a WWI bomb) in 1919, helping launch the first sexual revolution of the 1920s, leading to SEX magazine from birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger.

Decadent Weimar Berlin produced cabaret, fetish and free love magazines, countered by nudist titles pushing fascist politics, culminating in the 1933 Berlin book burning.

The 1930s economic depression boosted demand for cheap escape, and men’s magazines delivered. There were film magazines of sexy starlets; “model study” art magazines; hardcore comics called Tijuana Bibles; “spicy” fiction digests with sexy painted covers; and detective titles of bad dames. When another world war erupted it required pinup magazines for fighting men, and after the war new men’s magazines rose from the ashes.

Volume 1 of this series features over 700 covers and photos from France, Germany, the U.S., England, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Argentina and more, plus informative text.
The editor

Dian Hanson is a senior editor and writer for TASCHEN, with over 50 books to her credit. In addition to ARNOLD, her recent works include The Art of Pin-up, Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, and The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta.
Read here how it all began.

Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 1: From 1900 to Post-WWII
Hardcover21.3 x 27.7 cm2.10 kg460 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-9215-4

Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)
Download product images here

“Men’s magazine” is a euphemism for “sex magazine,” and this series traces its origins from 1900 to 1979, from the first coy French illustrations to the adult emporiums of Amsterdam, in six volumes, 2,760 pages, and nearly 4,000 full color covers and interior images. Dian Hanson produced men’s magazines from 1976 to 2001, including Puritan, JUGGS, and Leg Show, before becoming TASCHEN’s Sexy Book editor.

0 Ratings

No reviews have been posted for this item yet. Be the first to rate this product.