Angelo d'Arcangelo - The Homosexual Handbook - 1971

Angelo d’Arcangelo – The Homosexual Handbook
Olympia Press, London, 1971
First UK Edition

Rare and significant title in early LGBTQ publishing, a bold, satirical but at times serious guide for men navigating everyday gay life in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The book uses openly vulgar language, including words that were almost never seen in print at the time in Britain, especially so soon after the Lady Chatterley trial.

Written under the pseudonym Angelo d’Arcangelo, the author is now identified as Josef Bush, an American writer and actor active in the 1960s gay community.

The book became known for its humorous, camp and sharply observant portrait of gay male life in the late sixties — described by collectors as “a merry, camp take on American gay male life in the late ’sixties”.

The book is written in a distinctly humorous, lightly camp and often ironic tone, using wit as a way to demystify everyday gay life in the late sixties.

Contents:
- Prostitution
- The Search For Adonis, or What Use Beauty?
- The Alliances of Love
- Appearances
- Technique
- Science And Medicine
- The Watering Place
- Must You Mary?
- On Stage
- About Freedom, The Law, Prisons, Boarding Schools and the Military
- Politics
- Eros
- Morals, Religion and Society
- Women
- Books
- Uncle Fudge’s Grape-vine Lineup

Condition: Good, collectable copy. Price on the cover blacked out; previous owner’s name inscribed. Spine slightly faded. Otherwise clean, complete and well-kept.