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• Male love : a problem in Greek ethics and other writings
  Poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) had several same-sex relationships both before and after his marriage in 1864 to Janet Catherine North, with whom he had four daughters. ‘A Problem in Greek Ethics’, an extensive study of sexuality in Ancient Greece, including the culturally sanctioned practice of pederasty (sex between men and adolescent boys), was written in 1873 and published privately a decade later in an edition of ten. In 1897, it was expanded as an appendix to sexologist Havelock Ellis’s ‘Sexual Inversion’ (though immediately suppressed) and was subsequently reprinted over the course of the twentieth century, often using fictitious imprints to avoid prosecution. The Pagan Press edition of 1983, edited by John Lauritsen, marked the centenary of the work’s first publication and was named one of the ten best gay books of the year by ‘The Advocate’ newspaper.
• S and M : studies in sadomasochism
  This anthology is part of a series entitled ‘New Concepts in Human Sexuality’ which was edited by Vern L. Bullough (1928-2006), a sexologist, historian and sociologist. The two editors of this volume, sociology professor Thomas Weinberg (1943-) and scholar and public health worker G.W. Levi Kamel (1947-1989), approach sadomasochism from a sociological rather than a psychopathological perspective although the book begins with acknowledgement of that traditional view in a chapter focussing on Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis. Most of the work considers the social behaviour of those involved with sadomasochism – gay and straight – via exploration of identity, interaction and organization. The book is published by Prometheus Books which was founded in 1969 by secular humanist and academic Paul Kurtz.
• The homosexual matrix
  First published in America by McGraw-Hill in 1975, the preface to this British edition includes author C.A. Tripp’s (1919-2003) reflections on the book’s initial reception. More positively received than the author had hoped among the scientific community and in much of the media, including ‘Newsweek’, it nevertheless provoked anti-gay moralising in ‘Time’ magazine and ‘The New York Times’, while some papers cancelled their reviews altogether. Tripp, a psychotherapist, fails to mention that the book was also criticised by LGBTQ+ reviewers for its pseudo-scientific categorisation of gay men into ‘types’, its misogyny, and its refusal to engage with gay liberation as a social movement. The striking typographic cover design is by Marcy J. Katz. The edition on display is from the library of actor, author and bookseller Noel Lloyd.