THE JOY OF GAY SEX: An Intimate Guide for Gay Men to the Pleasures of a Gay Lifestyle

SIGNED by Edmund White on the title page and inscribed, 'For Stathis and Ralph / use it safely / [Signed]'. First Printing 10.5 x 7.5'. Sewn binding in gray paper over board. Illustrated thoughout with drawings by Michael Leonard, Ian Beck & Julian Graddon, and with color plates reproducing gay erotic images from antiquity in various cultures. Some trivial toning to the extremities of the covers and just a hint of offsetting to the endsheets, else FINE--text very clean and fresh with tight, square binding; DJ is a bit toned around the edges, 1' tear to rear head and some tiny chips to the front head, sticker shadow to front, price of $12.95 intact. Novelist Edmund White partnered with MD Charles Silverstein to create a sex manual for gay men, touching also on aspects of psychology, friendship, self-care, and the politics of coming out. It came as follow up to the wildly popular (and somewhat less though still controversial) 'Joy of Sex' published by Crown 5 years prior. Perhaps the most popular open celebration of 'A Gay Lifestyle' to date, it was a touchstone of Gay culture in the post-Stonewall era. Both within and outside of the gay community, the book met with much controversy during the AIDS crisis of the following decade for supposed role in the promotion of unsafe sex practices. This controversy frames White's 'use it carefully' admonition. The inscribees were longtime friends of White's. Stathis Orphanos was a noted photographer whose portraits of literary figures included Edmund White. He and his partner, Ralph Sylvester operated the fine-press publisher 'Sylvester and Orphanos.'.…