Ralph Ginzburg
Encyclopedia
Ralph Ginzburg was an American
author, editor, publisher and photo-journalist. He was best known for publishing books and magazines on erotica and art and for his conviction in 1963 for violating federal obscenity
laws.
at the City College of New York
, was editor-in-chief of its downtown campus newspaper, and on graduation in 1949 became a copyboy and cub reporter at the New York Daily Compass. Two years later he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War
and assigned to Fort Myer
, where he edited the post newspaper. While still in the Army, he worked at night as a copy editor for the Washington D.C. Times-Herald.
Upon discharge from the Army he shifted into broadcasting and magazines, working for Esquire magazine, NBC
, Reader's Digest
, Collier's, LOOK
and, as he put it, "other pillars of communications industry respectability". He finally saved enough money to rent his own office — a fifth floor walkup in an old Manhattan
office building.
His first publication was An Unhurried View of Erotica (New York: Helmsman Press, 1958). This rather scholarly-seeming book explored an ostensible undercurrent of pornography that runs throughout English literature. Beginning with a manuscript given by Leofric
, Bishop of Exeter
, to his cathedral in 1070 through the outright pornographic work of the 1950s, An Unhurried View examines examples of English erotic literature in an interpretive and explanatory context. The end of the book includes a bibliography of 100 titles. He convinced the notable psychoanalyst Theodor Reik
to write the introduction.
In 1962, Ginzburg managed to conduct an extensive interview of 18-year-old Bobby Fischer
, in what was to be practically the last formal interview Fischer ever gave. He sold the interview to Harper's Magazine
, which published it in January, 1962, entitled "Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master". The interview of the reclusive chess genius continues to have popularity.
In 1968, Ginzburg signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
Ginzburg was a vocal opponent of the practice of circumcision
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/ginzburg.htm. He authored dozens of books and other publications, the last of which was I Shot New York, a book about photojournalism
.
was the art director and second on the masthead. Only four issues of Eros were published, largely because Ginzburg was indicted under federal obscenity laws for the fourth issue.
The publication was bound in cardboard in a 13" x 10" format, averaging about 90 pages in length.
and one of his maids". The issue included short stories by Ray Bradbury
and Guy de Maupassant
, an extract from Eric Partridge
's "vulgar dictionary" and poems by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
.
s about John F Kennedy, French prostitutes and erotic statues in India, the first publication in a magazine of Mark Twain
's short story "1601
" and "an antique patent submission for a male chastity belt"
(the pictures were taken by Bert Stern
six weeks before her passing). It also featured a piece by Bonnie Prudden
, an extract from Fanny Hill
and an article on Samuel Roth
.
, a profile of Frank Harris
, and 'an eight-page "photographic tone poem"' titled "Black and White in Color," featuring a nude couple, but with no pubic parts shown, with an African-American man and a European-American girl. It has been contended that the magazine was persecuted on racist grounds, under the wave of mass racial violence in the South of the United States
, and that there would have been no such persecution if the photos had featured a couple of the same color.
Robert Kennedy indicted Ginzburg for distributing obscene literature through the mails, in violation of federal anti-obscenity laws. The indictment, although full of counts, really comprised three allegations of obscenity: First, publication of Volume I, No. 4, of Eros; second, publication of his newsletter Liaison; and third, that although The Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity, published by Ginzburg, was not itself obscene because of its inherent artistic value, Ginzburg has mailed advertisements for the book which accentuated the erotic content of the book in such as way as to appeal to "prurient interests". The advertising emphasized their sexual imagery, and included a guarantee of a full refund "if the book fails to reach you because of U.S. Post Office
censorship
interference."
The following were the portions of the advertisements that the district court found to "pander to prurient interests":
It was this last act which was most important to the legal community, because it established new law: although neither the book nor the advertising mailer were themselves obscene, the advertisement attempted to sell the book by characterising it as obscene, which violated the federal law (and was permissible under the First Amendment). Writing for a 5-4 majority, Justice Brennan held that in a close case, evidence that a defendant deliberately represented the materials in question as appealing to customers' erotic interest could support a finding that the materials are obscene. He wrote: "Where the purveyor's sole emphasis is on the sexually provocative aspects of his publications, that fact may be decisive in the determination of obscenity" even if the publications examined out of context might not be deemed obscene. Ginzburg was sentenced to five years in prison but ultimately served only eight months.
The case was clearly a troubling one for the Supreme Court. Even the prosecutors feared that all three publications had enough intrinsic artistic and social value to pass the Roth test
, which was at that time the standard by which the Court decided criminal obscenity cases.
After a brief trial in June, 1963, Ginzburg was convicted in Philadelphia by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the conviction in 1964, and two years later the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision, also affirming the conviction, in Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463 (March 21, 1966). The same day, the Court announced its decision in Memoirs v. Massachusetts (commonly known as the "Fanny Hill
case" after the informal title of the John Cleland novel at the heart of the judgment). This case declared that the First Amendment would not allow a work to be banned unless it was "utterly without redeeming social value"—a legal proviso that troubled some commentators, who felt that Ginzburg had been convicted for three works they deemed more "socially valuable" than Cleland's antique work of unvarnished erotica.
Immediately after the Supreme Court decision was announced, the public and mainstream press were heavily supportive of the decision. One person who had no problem supporting Ginzburg was Allen Ginsberg
, who traveled to Washington and picketed the Supreme Court building.
One of the editors of fact: was Robert Anton Wilson
, a prolific science fiction author whose works include the Illuminatus! series.
Avant Garde had a modest circulation but was extremely popular in certain circles, including New York’s advertising and editorial art directors.
Herbert F. Lubalin
(1918–1981), a post-modern design guru, was Ginzburg's collaborator on his four best-known magazines, including Avant Garde which gave birth to a well-known typeface of the same name
. It was originally intended primarily for use in logos: the first version consisted solely of 26 capital letters. It was inspired by Ginzburg and his wife, designed by Lubalin, and realized by Lubalin's assistants and Tom Carnese, one of Lubalin's partners. It is characterized by geometrically perfect round strokes; short, straight lines; and an extremely large number of ligatures and negative kerning. The International Typefont Corporation(ITC) (of which Lubalin was a founder) released a full version in 1970.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author, editor, publisher and photo-journalist. He was best known for publishing books and magazines on erotica and art and for his conviction in 1963 for violating federal obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
laws.
Biography
Ginzburg studied journalismJournalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, was editor-in-chief of its downtown campus newspaper, and on graduation in 1949 became a copyboy and cub reporter at the New York Daily Compass. Two years later he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and assigned to Fort Myer
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is a U.S. Army post adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It is a small post by U.S...
, where he edited the post newspaper. While still in the Army, he worked at night as a copy editor for the Washington D.C. Times-Herald.
Upon discharge from the Army he shifted into broadcasting and magazines, working for Esquire magazine, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
, Collier's, LOOK
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
and, as he put it, "other pillars of communications industry respectability". He finally saved enough money to rent his own office — a fifth floor walkup in an old Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
office building.
His first publication was An Unhurried View of Erotica (New York: Helmsman Press, 1958). This rather scholarly-seeming book explored an ostensible undercurrent of pornography that runs throughout English literature. Beginning with a manuscript given by Leofric
Leofric
Leofric may refer to:* Leofric , English religious leader* Leofric, Earl of Mercia , English noble and benefactor of churches...
, Bishop of Exeter
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
, to his cathedral in 1070 through the outright pornographic work of the 1950s, An Unhurried View examines examples of English erotic literature in an interpretive and explanatory context. The end of the book includes a bibliography of 100 titles. He convinced the notable psychoanalyst Theodor Reik
Theodor Reik
Theodor Reik was a prominent psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria. Reik received a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912. His dissertation, a study of Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony, was the first psychoanalytic...
to write the introduction.
In 1962, Ginzburg managed to conduct an extensive interview of 18-year-old Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, in what was to be practically the last formal interview Fischer ever gave. He sold the interview to Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, which published it in January, 1962, entitled "Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master". The interview of the reclusive chess genius continues to have popularity.
In 1968, Ginzburg signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.
Ginzburg was a vocal opponent of the practice of circumcision
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/ginzburg.htm. He authored dozens of books and other publications, the last of which was I Shot New York, a book about photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
.
Eros Magazine
In 1962, Ginzburg began publication of his first major work, Eros, which was a quarterly hardbound periodical containing articles and photo-essays on love and sex. Herb LubalinHerb Lubalin
Herbert F. Lubalin was a prominent American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde, and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications...
was the art director and second on the masthead. Only four issues of Eros were published, largely because Ginzburg was indicted under federal obscenity laws for the fourth issue.
The publication was bound in cardboard in a 13" x 10" format, averaging about 90 pages in length.
No. 1 (Spring, 1962)
The cover was mustard-coloured and featured "an embossed playing card of BluebeardBluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
and one of his maids". The issue included short stories by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
and Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
, an extract from Eric Partridge
Eric Partridge
Eric Honeywood Partridge was a New Zealand/British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps and the RAF correspondence department during World War II...
's "vulgar dictionary" and poems by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , styled Viscount Wilmot between 1652 and 1658, was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts...
.
No. 2 (Summer, 1962)
The cover of No. 2 pictured a young couple in swimsuits, kissing passionately; it was printed in two colors, black and greenish-yellow, with a red-orange logo. The inside covers repeated the theme in red (front) and blue (back). It featured photo essayPhoto essay
A photo-essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. A photo essay will often show pictures in deep emotional stages. Photo essays range from purely photographic works to photographs with captions or small notes to full text...
s about John F Kennedy, French prostitutes and erotic statues in India, the first publication in a magazine of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's short story "1601
1601 (Mark Twain)
[Date: 1601.] Conversation, as it was the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors. or simply 1601 is the title of a humorous risque work by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880, and finally acknowledged by the author in 1906....
" and "an antique patent submission for a male chastity belt"
No. 3 (Autumn, 1962)
Issue No. 3 was centered on an 18-page photo shoot of the recently deceased Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
(the pictures were taken by Bert Stern
Bert Stern
Bertram Stern is an American fashion and celebrity portrait photographer.-Marilyn Monroe:His best known work is arguably The Last Sitting, a collection of 2,500 photographs taken of Marilyn Monroe over a three day period, six weeks before her death, taken for Vogue...
six weeks before her passing). It also featured a piece by Bonnie Prudden
Bonnie Prudden
Bonnie Prudden was a leading American rock climber in the 1940s and 1950s, with 30 documented first ascents to her credit in New York's Shawangunks mountains. Along with Hans Kraus, she was a pioneering advocate of physical fitness and later developed a form of trigger point therapy called...
, an extract from Fanny Hill
Fanny Hill
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748...
and an article on Samuel Roth
Samuel Roth
Samuel Roth was an American publisher and writer. He was the plaintiff in Roth v. United States , which was a key Supreme Court ruling on freedom of sexual expression...
.
No. 4 (Winter, 1962)
This issue published a letter by Allen GinsbergAllen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, a profile of Frank Harris
Frank Harris
Frank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
, and 'an eight-page "photographic tone poem"' titled "Black and White in Color," featuring a nude couple, but with no pubic parts shown, with an African-American man and a European-American girl. It has been contended that the magazine was persecuted on racist grounds, under the wave of mass racial violence in the South of the United States
Mass racial violence in the United States
Mass racial violence, also called race riots can include such disparate events as:* attacks on Irish Catholics, the Chinese and other immigrants in the 19th century....
, and that there would have been no such persecution if the photos had featured a couple of the same color.
Prosecution for obscenity
U.S. Attorney GeneralUnited States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Robert Kennedy indicted Ginzburg for distributing obscene literature through the mails, in violation of federal anti-obscenity laws. The indictment, although full of counts, really comprised three allegations of obscenity: First, publication of Volume I, No. 4, of Eros; second, publication of his newsletter Liaison; and third, that although The Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity, published by Ginzburg, was not itself obscene because of its inherent artistic value, Ginzburg has mailed advertisements for the book which accentuated the erotic content of the book in such as way as to appeal to "prurient interests". The advertising emphasized their sexual imagery, and included a guarantee of a full refund "if the book fails to reach you because of U.S. Post Office
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
interference."
The following were the portions of the advertisements that the district court found to "pander to prurient interests":
- "Eros is a child of its times. . . . [It] is the result of recent court decisions that have realistically interpreted America's obscenity laws and that have given to this country a new breadth of freedom of expression. . . . EROS takes full advantage of this new freedom of expression. It is the magazine of sexual candor."
- "EROS is a new quarterly devoted to the subjects of Love and Sex. In the few short weeks since its birth, EROS has established itself as the rave of the American intellectual community - and the rage of prudes everywhere! And it's no wonder: EROS handles the subjects of Love and Sex with complete candor. The publication of this magazine - which is frankly and avowedly concerned with erotica - has been enabled by recent court decisions ruling that a literary piece or painting, though explicitly sexual in content, has a right to be published if it is a genuine work of art. EROS is a genuine work of art. . . ."
- The outer envelopes of the Liaison flyers asked, "Are you among the chosen few?"
- The first line of the Liaison advertisement: "Are you a member of the sexual elite?" . . . "That is, are you among the few happy and enlightened individuals who believe that a man and woman can make love without feeling pangs of conscience? Can you read about love and sex and discuss them without blushing and stammering? If so, you ought to know about an important new periodical called Liaison. . . ."
- "In short, Liaison is Cupid's Chronicle. . . . Though Liaison handles the subjects of love and sex with complete candor, I wish to make it clear that it is not a scandal sheetScandal SheetScandal Sheet is a black-and-white film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film...
and it is not written for the man in the street. Liaison is aimed at intelligent, educated adults who can accept love and sex as part of life. . . I'll venture to say that after you've read your first bi-weekly issue, Liaison will be your most eagerly awaited piece of mail." - The defendants sought mailing privileges from the postmasters of IntercourseIntercourse, PennsylvaniaIntercourse, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated village in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, ten miles east of Lancaster on PA 340. As with the nearby towns of Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, and Paradise, Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its...
and Blue Ball, PennsylvaniaBlue Ball, PennsylvaniaBlue Ball is an unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near 40°N 76°W. Blue Ball lies approximately 2 miles east-northeast of the town of New Holland, Pennsylvania at the intersection of US 322 and PA Route 23.-Name and origin:...
, before settling upon Middlesex, New JerseyMiddlesex, New JerseyMiddlesex is a Borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 13,635.Middlesex was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 9, 1913, from portions of Piscataway Township, based on the results...
, as a mailing point. - Inserted in each book advertisement was a slip labeled "GUARANTEE" and reading, "Documentary Books, Inc. unconditionally guarantees full refund of the price of THE HOUSEWIFE'S HANDBOOK ON SELECTIVE PROMISCUITY if the book fails to reach you because of U.S. Post Office censorship interference."
It was this last act which was most important to the legal community, because it established new law: although neither the book nor the advertising mailer were themselves obscene, the advertisement attempted to sell the book by characterising it as obscene, which violated the federal law (and was permissible under the First Amendment). Writing for a 5-4 majority, Justice Brennan held that in a close case, evidence that a defendant deliberately represented the materials in question as appealing to customers' erotic interest could support a finding that the materials are obscene. He wrote: "Where the purveyor's sole emphasis is on the sexually provocative aspects of his publications, that fact may be decisive in the determination of obscenity" even if the publications examined out of context might not be deemed obscene. Ginzburg was sentenced to five years in prison but ultimately served only eight months.
The case was clearly a troubling one for the Supreme Court. Even the prosecutors feared that all three publications had enough intrinsic artistic and social value to pass the Roth test
Roth v. United States
Roth v. United States, , along with its companion case, Alberts v. California, was a landmark case before the United States Supreme Court which redefined the Constitutional test for determining what constitutes obscene material unprotected by the First Amendment.- Prior history :Under the common...
, which was at that time the standard by which the Court decided criminal obscenity cases.
After a brief trial in June, 1963, Ginzburg was convicted in Philadelphia by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the conviction in 1964, and two years later the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision, also affirming the conviction, in Ginzburg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463 (March 21, 1966). The same day, the Court announced its decision in Memoirs v. Massachusetts (commonly known as the "Fanny Hill
Fanny Hill
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748...
case" after the informal title of the John Cleland novel at the heart of the judgment). This case declared that the First Amendment would not allow a work to be banned unless it was "utterly without redeeming social value"—a legal proviso that troubled some commentators, who felt that Ginzburg had been convicted for three works they deemed more "socially valuable" than Cleland's antique work of unvarnished erotica.
Immediately after the Supreme Court decision was announced, the public and mainstream press were heavily supportive of the decision. One person who had no problem supporting Ginzburg was Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, who traveled to Washington and picketed the Supreme Court building.
fact: (magazine)
From January, 1964, to August, 1967, Ginzburg published a quarterly magazine named fact:, which could be characterized as a humorous, scathingly satiric journal of comment on current society and politics. fact: had surprisingly little erotic content. Rather, it contained articles such as 1,189 Psychiatrists Say Barry Goldwater is Unfit for the Presidency. The Goldwater article purported to find the senator paranoid, sexually insecure, suicidal, and "grossly psychotic." Goldwater later sued and won the suit.One of the editors of fact: was Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
, a prolific science fiction author whose works include the Illuminatus! series.
Avant Garde
From January, 1968, through July, 1971, Ginzburg published Avant Garde, which like Eros was a handsome hardbound periodical. Ginzburg's age and federal conviction had calmed him down some by this time: Avant Garde could not be termed obscene, but it is filled with creative imagery often caustically critical of American society and government, sexual themes, and (for the time) crude language. One cover featured a naked pregnant woman; another had a parody of Willard's famous patriotic painting, "The Spirit of '76", with a white woman and a black manAvant Garde had a modest circulation but was extremely popular in certain circles, including New York’s advertising and editorial art directors.
Herbert F. Lubalin
Herb Lubalin
Herbert F. Lubalin was a prominent American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde, and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications...
(1918–1981), a post-modern design guru, was Ginzburg's collaborator on his four best-known magazines, including Avant Garde which gave birth to a well-known typeface of the same name
ITC Avant Garde
ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a font family based on the logo font used in the Avant Garde magazine. Herb Lubalin devised the logo concept and its companion headline typeface, then he and Tom Carnase, a partner in Lubalin's design firm, worked together to transform the idea into a full-fledged...
. It was originally intended primarily for use in logos: the first version consisted solely of 26 capital letters. It was inspired by Ginzburg and his wife, designed by Lubalin, and realized by Lubalin's assistants and Tom Carnese, one of Lubalin's partners. It is characterized by geometrically perfect round strokes; short, straight lines; and an extremely large number of ligatures and negative kerning. The International Typefont Corporation(ITC) (of which Lubalin was a founder) released a full version in 1970.
Books
- An Unhurried View of Erotica by Ralph Ginzburg; introduction by Theodor ReikTheodor ReikTheodor Reik was a prominent psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria. Reik received a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912. His dissertation, a study of Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony, was the first psychoanalytic...
; preface by George Jean NathanGeorge Jean NathanGeorge Jean Nathan was an American drama critic and editor.-Early life:Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana...
(New York: Helmsman Press, 1958) - 100 Years of Lynchings edited by Ralph Ginzburg (New York: Lancer BooksLancer BooksLancer Books was a series of paperback books published from 1961 through 1973 by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the...
, 1962; Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press, 1988, cancelled ISBN 0-933121-18-0 - The Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity by Rey Anthony (real name Maxine Sanini), published by Ralph Ginzburg (New York Documentary Books, 1962. This book has no ISBN because it was banned by order of the court; this order has never been lifted).
- Eros on Trial: "A Portfolio of The Most Beautiful Art From Eros" by Ralph Ginzburg (New York: Book Division of Fact Magazine, 1966)
- The Best of Fact edited by Ralph Ginzburg and Warren BorosonWarren BorosonWarren Boroson is an American author and journalist. He has written over 20 books, including How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett, Keys to Investing in Mutual Funds and How to Buy a House for Nothing Down...
(New York: Trident Press, 1967) - Castrated: My Eight Months in Prison (New York: Avant-Garde Books, 1973, ISBN 0-913568-00-7)
- I Shot New York, photographs by Ralph Ginzburg; foreword by George PlimptonGeorge PlimptonGeorge Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
; captions by Shoshana Ginzburg (New York: Harry Abrams, 1999, ISBN 0-8109-6367-1)
Magazines
- Eros published by __, New York, NY (Vol. I, Nos. 1-4, 1962)
- Moneysworth published by __
- Fact published by Fact Magazine, Inc, 110 West 40th Street, New York NY 10018, (Vol. I-IV, Jan. 1964 to Aug. 1967). Individual issue $1.25. Subscription rate 1 year $7.50; 2 years $13.00; 3 years $19.00; 5 years $30.00. Staff: Ralph Ginzburg, Editor & Publisher; Warren Boroson, Managing Editor; Herb Lubalin, Art Director; Rosemary Lattimore, Research Director; Richard L. Dunn, Circulation Director; Myra Shomer, Promotion Director [Taken from masthead of Vol 1, Issue 1.]
- Avant Garde published by