MALE NUDES: PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE: "MEN ACROSS AMERICA" 1987 SPECIAL PORTFOLIO ISSUE

Los Angeles, CA: Playgirl Magazine, 1987. First Edition. First Printing.. Softcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Los Angeles, CA: Playgirl Magazine, 1987. Softcover. Fine/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 50 pages. Rare Playgirl Magazine collectible item. A fine copy of Playgirl Magazine's 1987 "Men Across America" Special Portfolio Issue. The only Special Issue titled and issued as such by Playgirl. Retrospective collection of male nudes. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only that sold out upon publication. There is no ISBN. The Special Portfolio Issue is now rare. Presents Playgirl Magazine's "Men Across America" 1987 Special Portfolio Issue. Page after page of male nudes, presented geographically. The models, who all appeared in the original issues of Playgirl Magazine during its first two decades (1973-1987), represent, individually and collectively, some of the handsomest and sexiest men Playgirl Magazine ever discovered and photographed. One of the singular appeals of PG's Specials is that apart from reproducing images from its previous Issues, the Portfolio also showed previously unpublished nudes ("outtakes"), which were often deemed too daring and "in-your-face" for the magazine's still-evolving mainstream audience. It is a well-established fact that a significant number, if not a majority, of Playgirl's readers and collectors are men, gay as well as, by open admission, straight, who were looking to compare and size themselves up versus the models, and in the hope of landing on PG's coveted Centerfold, too. While the "physique" magazines of yore scored their fair share of good-looking and well-endowed models, they remained esoteric and could not attract many of the otherwise willing specimens of American male beauty because the latter feared being branded as gay. That fear was effectively extinguished for good by Playgirl Magazine with its "For Women Only" branding - while being fully aware that men constitute a large, unacknowledged audience. Whatever one's feelings about this strategy, it worked brilliantly, and hastened the acceptance of the male nude as no "physique" magazine - before AND after PG - ever could. Today, Playgirl is seriously collected throughout the world, as nostalgia for a more innocent, happier time Before The Internet, and for the incomparably beautiful men who graced its pages. Many of them will not be equalled much less surpassed. An absolute "must-have" title for Playgirl Magazine and male erotic photography collectors. This title is an erotic photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Special Portfolio Issue available online and despite its imperfection (one upper slit on the otherwise intact spine, but it's there) is still in especially fine condition: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. It is priced accordingly. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws because they were pored over repeatedly. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).