Vintage Porn/Erotica

Who was it produced for? I''m referring to pornography dating back to, I''m guessing, the late 1800s, early 1900s. I can''t imagine the average person being able to afford such a luxury. Were these only enjoyed by the rich? And just who were these people that posed in various sexual acts? Were they poor? \ \ Are there any web sites out there featuring the history behind such material from the late 19th century, early 20th pornography?\ \ Thanks.

• It''s fiction, but Sarah Waters'' book ''Fingersmith'' might interest you. At the back she lists of the main pornographic texts / studies from the period.

• I''m fascinated by that, too.

• I''ve seen some hot gay porn from the turn of the 20th century. Hot, hot, hot.\ A man (30s) and two young men. The man wore an eye-mask, and everyone kept their socks (but nothing else) on.

• I have been doing a lot of research on prostitution at the turn of the century in Colorado for this project I am working on. The topic itself is absolutely fascinating. But it has left me wondering if there were male prostitutes that serviced a certain clientele in the way the women did. How open or discreet would it have been?

• The French were primarily responsible for much of what exists in turn of the century pornographic motion pictures. They would play in the parlors of the bordellos. %0D\ %0D\ American stag films were shot domestically and shown at gentleman''s clubs.

• Porn was often entertainment of the motion picture elite. Many, many Hollywood stars collected and stashed the material. Bud Abbott famously had his stash busted, but the stuff was shown at every orgy thrown in the Hollywood hills. I think Roddy McDowell had a huge collection of rare gay reels.

• What was the deal with the socks?

• Why the assumption that porn photos were luxuriously unaffordable at the turn of the 20th century? Photography was common enough back then. \ \ I have photos of family members that go back to the 1860s. No nudes, though, thank heaven, considering their severe visages and lumpy bodies.

• "French postcards" were affordable; I thought the OP was asking about porn films.

• Most of the material was banned. Places would be shut down if they found any material of the sort in the vicinity. To be able to get your hands on it, at least in the 19th century, you had to have some pretty serious connections.

• R10, Big Brother was a toddler, and had a lot to learn in the 19th Century.

• mmm

  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JZr85OgkAHE/S9vy6RADbhI/AAAAAAAABHE/0gXToxlelPc/s1600/unknown-1.jpg

• Wow, the cocks of centuries ago look just like the cocks of today. Nothing has changed.

• You need to be more specific OP: photographs, literature (like Teleny), or art? \ \ The most fabulous things are the bespoke artistic books done by the French, but as they''re horribly expensive there''s not many images of them online. If you have $225,000 there''s a collection of drawings in a sensational gilded carved box that''s on the market, originally comissioned by Roger Peyrefitte in the 50s. It''s the Ark Of The Covenant of gay porn.\ \ The link naturally is not work safe.

  http://www.livres-anciens-fata-libelli.com/fata_libelli/SATYRICON.jpg

• why a luxury?\ \ In the 1800s and early 1900s prostitution was a huge business, probably much bigger than today, and not just for the rich. Buying sex wasn''t considered a luxury, in fact it was considered a very usual thing for men of all kinds, so why would you think dirty postcards would be only for the wealthy?

• Of course it is difficult to generalize (for example I am sure that you are referring to porn in the western European world and not everywhere in the world.) For the most part porn was expensive, because pornographers could command high prices. Porn, but particularly Gay porn, was extremely dangerous to own. It would be on the par with owning child pornography today. Of course the very rich could get away with it...and just about anything else. But, the average person had to settle for "naughty" postcards, etc, that just skirted the line between socially acceptable and porn. Outright porn was definitely a sellers market. And then there was the possibility that the seller would blackmail you. There is a reason that so many Gay men had to settle for copies of The David and ceramic figurines of sailors. In both the US and England, anything more could get you arrested without question.

• r12, is that really vintage, or faux-vintage? The guy in the sailor suit looks very contemporary, as do his shoes.

• Re the socks - I assumed it was because wherever they were shooting had a dirty floor? Or maybe it was the convention of the time, to keep one''s socks on?

• No, it was because you could not be completely naked. As long as you had your socks on, you were not completely naked. Similarly, in Burlesque, the strippers could not be completely naked, but the could wear net "pants" that were virtually transparent. Recently, strippers in the Midwest got around similar rule by painting their nipples with liquid latex. Technically, they were covered.\ \ Also, any man in women''s clothing had to wear at least three pieces of men''s clothing as well or he could be arrested.

• R4, male prostitution at the turn of the century did exist. The Cleveland Street scandal is an example

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Street_scandal

• R4, there is an excellent book that includes the Gay bars and prostitutes in NYC at the turn of the century. I cannot remember the name of it. It may be a general history of Gay NYC, but it has a lot of info on the Bowery Bars, etc. The author did a great deal of research in the police records and the police museum. (Which, by the way owns a great deal of vintage porn. when the Museum of Sex opened in NYC, their first exhibit seemed to have been pulled almost entirely from the police museum''s holdings.)

• The first place I''d look is the Museum of Sex.

  http://www.museumofsex.com/

• R20, I should have specified in the American West.

• [quote]No, it was because you could not be completely naked. As long as you had your socks on, you were not completely naked. %0D\ %0D\ What ARE you talking about? If making, selling and/or owning porn was illegal, how did wearing socks magically make it okay? It was illegal whether you had on socks or not. That is the most illogical thing I''ve read on DL in a long time, R19.

• r12, what site is that?

• The photographs of Sicilian boys done by the fake German baron Von Gloedon had a huge market in the 1890s. He quite literally put the town of Taomina on the map because of the gay tourist trade he generated. You can find any number of his photos online. A major gallery near me recently had an exhibition of them. A few are outstanding for their time: most are just grubby (as in: the boys look like they need a bath) 2nd and 3rd rate wank poses for German industrialists and the military high command.

• "The Alienist," while fiction, is a thoroughly researched book about 1890s New York, and is centered around the life of boy-prostitutes and all-male brothels. Caleb Carr''s book.

• I love vintage porn from the early 20th century. AEBN has some, both str8 and gay.

• Look for books on censorship to find information on vintage porn. I discovered that many serious books go into a clinical look at what was produced and why, then provide pictures. Hot, hot pictures.\ \ Early porn films were made for the stag party market, mainly. Upper middle class businessmen would have bachelor parties, stag parties, wild nights after business trips, etc. There are a few old movies who reference these films, most notably the now-lost "Convention City" from 1933, where the script seems to indicate that the idea of a porno film was almost old fashioned.

• R17, that''s vintage. It''s part of an obviously vintage set (most photos are part of a set of several taken with the same models in different poses). I used to collect pics scanned and posted on a binaries group on Usenet, and I recognize that as one of the pics posted.\ \ Nowadays, I couldn''t tell you where to get the free stuff anymore. It''s been pay-only access on all the old vintage porn sites for a decade or more.

• R21, do you mean George Chauncey''s "Gay New York"? That is indeed an excellent book.

  http://www.amazon.com/Gay-New-York-Culture-1890-1940/dp/0465026214/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289562630&sr=1-1

• In last Sunday''s "Boardwalk Empire," some of the guys were watching vintage (c. 1920) pron (straight).

• Sometimes what you don''t see can be almost as...

  http://www.walnet.org/csis/biblios/monty_glover/glover-04.2.jpg

• I''m reading that Gay New York book. very interesting! \ \ Anyone know where I can see photos of turn-of-century gay men. Not porn, just pictures of what were known as "fairies" at the time?

• great pics!

• [quote]Porn was often entertainment of the motion picture elite. Many, many Hollywood stars collected and stashed the material.\ \ Where does the alleged Joan Crawford porno fit into that?

• I have a fascinating book of vintage porn that I got in the clearance section at Strand Books in NYC. I think it''s published by Taschen, but I''m not positive. All our books are packed in boxes because we are putting in new bookshelves, but if I can dig it up I''ll post the name for anyone who might want to track down a copy. Most of the pictures are very early 20th century.\ \ I have no idea if R19 is correct or not, but the book does mention that the subjects'' clothes/accessories helped determine when the pictures were taken.

• Armed Forces

  http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__o0Dlccf4YI/TNwufNUCkoI/AAAAAAABlMM/99_o6uqM1-A/s400/hIBkHvFArqtrc3jzOUkSjbeMo1_500.jpg

• r4, if you don''t think male prostitution existed, watch "Wilde."

• There have ALWAYS been male prostitutes. Someone actually has a hard time believing that?

• Boardwalk Empire had a scene in which a porn film from 1920 was shown. It showed naughty nuns getting it from behind. :-)

• R24, there is a huge difference between the 1930s+ and the 1890s. You are try to use the same measure for two very different periods.

• R37, is the name of the book "Forbidden Erotica"? If so, I have that too - it was published by Taschen and is a fascinating collection of photos from the 1870s to the early 1960s.

• Yes, R43! That''s it! I found an Amazon listing.

  http://www.amazon.com/Rotenberg-Collection-Forbidden-Erotica/dp/3822864137

• r42 is right... it was until the 1930s that strict rules against pornography was enforced

• Check out "Gay Art: A Historic Collection," by Felix Lance Falkon.

  http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Art-Felix-Lance-Falkon/dp/1551522055/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289935472&sr=1-1

  Pantsy

• [quote]Wow, the cocks of centuries ago look just like the cocks of today. Nothing has changed.\ \ I know this shouldn''t surprise us, but I am fascinated by the fact that the human body hasn''t changed. I think it''s interesting that Thomas Jefferson had pubes and got boners...

  I''m sick, I know

• The photo R38 posted looks very Tom of Finlandish.

• I love the old stuff, from the very first until about 1980 something. \ \ As soon as video came into the mix the quality went WAY downhill. The 70''s made great porn.

• R48, that is an early Colt Studios photo shoot.

• Groovy site:

  http://fluffydaze.tumblr.com/

• More vintage...

  http://purelyvintagegay.tumblr.com/

• Here ya go OP

  http://www.elisarion.ch/index_d.htm