Current Events & Trends | August 12, 2026 | Alex Johnson

LGBTQ+ Culture and HIstory: Five Rare Books for Collectors

Swann Galleries

The Mattachine Society's copy of Howl and other Poems signed by Allen Ginsburg

Highlights of Swann Galleries' LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History on August 13 include:

* The Mattachine Society's copy of Howl and other Poems signed by Allen Ginsburg

Sixth printing of the Pocket Poets Series edition (San Francisco, City Lights Books, September 1958), with an introduction by William Carlos Williams, part of the library of the leading homophile organization The Mattachine Society although the library circulation card included in the sale suggests that it was never checked out. Inked Mattachine Society stamps on first and last pages, signed on title page "Allen Ginsberg 1980 S.F".

* $tud by Samuel Steward

First edition (Washington, Guild Press, 1966) of the first novel by Hell's Angels tattoo artist and Kinsey Institute informant Samuel Steward who published as Phil Andros. In illustrated dust jacket by Etienne. No others traced at auction.

* Hockney's Alphabet

First American edition (New York, Random House, 1991). Signed on front free endpaper by David Hockney.

Swann Galleries

$tud by Samuel Steward

Swann Galleries

Hockney's Alphabet

Swann Galleries

A pair of albums with approximately 1,000 photographs depicting queer life and artistry primarily on Fire Island and in NYC

Swann Galleries

Cabinet card portrait of Oscar Wilde

* A pair of albums with approximately 1,000 photographs depicting queer life and artistry primarily on Fire Island and in NYC

A personal pair of chromogenic and silver prints albums created by a NYC-based gay couple 1967-71, charting multiple seasons of life vacationing on the island with their friends including costume parties, autumn boat rides, drag shows in the city, road trips, and painting. Most photos fixed to the album sheets, each sheet with a numeric notation and date, and an additional numeric notation under each photo, in ink.

* Cabinet card portrait of Oscar Wilde

In this pose, one of 29 known images captured by Napoleon Sarony in 1882 and three in 1883, Wilde wears knee-breeches, silk stockings, and patent leather slippers to "be used in the drawing-room." The bows visible on the slippers were unconventional for the time. Albumen print, with Sarony's printed credit, date, copyright, address, and Wilde's credit on mount recto, and the sitter's name and additional notations in ink and the collector Henry Y. Porter's stamp on mount verso.