Billy: Idylles d'Amour Grec En Angleterre

D'ESSAC, Jean [205] pp. Editions Valere 1938 Limited Edition 6 3/4" x 5" Copy number 178 of 900 exemplaires *slight water staining issues condition noted* Alongside the big names in homosexual literature of the interwar period, such as Jean Cocteau or André Gide, who put their fame at the service of the homosexual cause, there is another, more confidential, more popular literature which also contributes its stone to the edifice. This is how Jean d'Essac published in 1937 a little illustrated story of his love affair with Billy, a soldier in the English Royal Guard. The story is unpretentious, the style is simple with a few touches, the illustrations are a bit naïve. However, it is a text that also has something to tell us about what could be the love between two men in this first half of the 20th century. It is above all an uninhibited story, without the desire to be militant, which probably allows it to be at the same time more personal and more direct.