Sonntag, 25. Februar 2018

2018-02-25s03

A Vixen Book

publisher / verlag: The Vixen Press, New York NY
country / land USA
years / zeitraum: 1951 - 1955
volumes / bände: zur Zeit 40 Titel bekannt
authors / verfasser: various / verschiedene
notes / notizen: Hardcover editions with dust jackets, listings in alphabetical order by author name, since no book numbers are known. Some titles also appeared later (1956) at Modern Press, Green Farm Conn. as 'A Modern Book'. There may have been other, currently unknown titles. / Hardcoverausgaben mit Schutzumschlag, Listung in alphabetischer Reihenfolge nach Verfassernamen, da keine Bandnummern bekannt. Einige Titel erschienen auch später (1956) bei Modern Press, Green Farm Conn. als 'A Modern Book'. Möglicherweise gab es weitere, mir derzeit nicht bekannte Titel.

Informations from an ebay offer: I am somewhat surprised no one has written a biography of Vixen Press of the apparent founder Gilbert (Gil) Fox. Especially considering Gil not only was friends with Bizarre fetish illustratorbut also because he reportedly was involved in some most unusual and nefarious Greenwich Village sexual antics...including the earliest LSD experiments carried out on behalf of Uncle Sam. You can read up on that particular aspect of the story in "Sex, Drugs & the CIA" by Douglas Valentine. I get spooked when spooks are involved, so you are on your own if you want to pursue this area of research!
The book TIMES SQUARE SMUT available from Blurb.com contains much more information on Vixen Press. 

Perhaps no one has paid attention to the Vixen books because they are hardbacks. Most of the vintage sleaze action is in lurid covered paperbacks. But this line of spicy stories certainly qualify as well. Though hardcovers, they are still cheap, tawdry and one hundred percent grade a certified sleaze. They are also, when and if you can find them, quite affordable since no one has bothered to collect them. All are now nearly 60 years old, so certainly they must be getting harder to find, even more so with the dust-jackets intact, as all listed now do.
Not long after meeting Willie, Gil Fox began writing his own sleaze for Woodford Press. Jack Woodford is a curious fellow in his own "write" and somehow managed to mingle with the sleaziest of sleazes, yet achieve a considerable degree of literary respect as well. Another Pandora's box for you.
Not long after, likely 1953, Gil set up Vixen Press at 125 Christopher Street in New York City. 125 Christopher Street was also the location of the Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window (!) At least before they changed the address to 125 West 9th Street in the movie. There is an understanding in the film business that murder films use phony addresses. There is no 125 West 9th Street, but Gil's place sits there still at 125 Christopher.
So Vixen Books was an apartment operation and seems to have been primarily an outlet for writers other than Gil. Barry Devlin, one of the most prolific Vixen writers, was selling work which was published as Beacon paperbacks at the same time. Another was the mysterious Justin Kent, the pseudonym of a writer who testified against Edward Miskin in an obscenity trial. Vixen Press apparently put out a book a month or so. They were likely distributed in the sleazy Times Square bookshops, but they were also distributed by Associated Booksellers in Westport, CT. and at least one other outside of the tri-state area, Indianapolis Distributing Company.
Some of the original Vixen titles were subsequently published as paperbacks with new titles. Moon-kissed by Barry Devlin came out under the title Forbidden Pleasures as a Berkley book. Kim Savage also had a paperback titled Helen's House published by Beacon. Mark Tryon's The Fire That Burns came out as a paperback with the byline "Girls who pose for anything" on the cover. It is more than possible others were republished in paper with entirely new titles and authors credited. For that matter, and for all I know, ALL of them were written by Fox, but in particular I have seen a reference somewhere that Kim Savage was Gil Fox, though I am not sure.
In the notes to Girls Lie Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius by Edward de Grazia (1972) one Vixen book (Sweeter Than Life by Mark Tryon) was called "the forerunner of the sex pulp novels so numerous in the sixties; It contained a prominent lesbian theme and it seems to have had no appreciable literary value. (The book) is described in some detail in Felice Flannery Lewis, Literature, Obscenity and Law (1976) 180-181. Fair enough.
There WAS an obscenity case brought against Gil Fox...U.S vs. Gilbert Fox, Vixen Press et al, involving four of the titles. I am not sure the outcome, nor do I know if Mr. Fox spent any time in the steel bar hen house.


Liste

Nummer Autor Titel Jahr
0000 Devlin, Barry Acapulco Nocturne 1952
0000 Devlin, Barry Chains of Silk 1954
0000 Devlin, Barry Fire & Ice 1952
0000 Devlin, Barry Gold-Plated Sin 1953
0000 Devlin, Barry Lovers and Madmen 1953
0000 Devlin, Barry Madam Big 1953
0000 Devlin, Barry Moon-Kissed 1953
0000 Devlin, Barry No Holds Barred 1954
0000 Devlin, Barry Other Loves 1955
0000 Devlin, Barry This Paris 1955
0000 Kent, Justin Fast Curve 1953
0000 Kent, Justin Mavis 1953
0000 Lucas, Rick Boss-Lady 1954
0000 Lucas, Rick Complex Mother 1955
0000 Lucas, Rick Dreamboat 1955
0000 Lucas, Rick Rogues and Riches 1954
0000 Lucas, Rick Strange Journey 1954
0000 Morro, Don Sweet and 20 1955
0000 Norday, Michael Dark Magic 1954
0000 Norday, Michael Desolate Sands 1955
0000 Norday, Michael Flashy Fists 1955
0000 Norday, Michael Mask of Night 1954
0000 Norday, Michael On With the Dance! 1954
0000 Norday, Michael Stage for Fools 1955
0000 Savage, Kim Baby Makes Three 1953
0000 Savage, Kim Bent to Evil 1952
0000 Savage, Kim Girl's Dorm 1952
0000 Savage, Kim Hellion 1951
0000 Savage, Kim Lazylegs
0000 Savage, Kim Weekend 1952
0000 Stone, Scott Blaze 1954
0000 Stone, Scott Countess Margo 1955
0000 Stone, Scott Devil's Web 1955
0000 Stone, Scott Joanne 1955
0000 Stone, Scott Shadow in Scarlet 1954
0000 Tryon, Mark The Fire That Burns
0000 Tryon, Mark The Sinning Lens 1953
0000 Tryon, Mark Stage-Struck 1954
0000 Tryon, Mark Sweeter than Live 1954
0000 Tryon, Mark Take It Off! 1953


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