This is a rare factory sealed unread vintage and out of print copy of Gay and Lesbian Poetry: An Anthology from Sappho to Michelangelo, written by James J. Wilhelm (Author) and distributed by Garland Reference Library of the Humanities in 1995. This paperback book measure 6 x 0.78 x 8.5 inches and is 344 pages in length. See photos for condition.

“This comprehensive anthology of homoerotic literature from the Greeks to the Italian Renaissance features 730 poems by 114 known and many unknown authors in seven languages and literatures. Although its main focus is on European languages, the anthology also includes Arabic and Hebrew poetry of medieval Spain. Most of the poems celebrate homoeroticism, but a few homophobic works are included."

Rutgers medievalist Wilhelm's ambitious survey collects European homoerotic poetry from 7th century B.C.E. Greece through the Italian Renaissance. Though Dante, Chaucer, and others deploying gay characters are included, as are a scattering of antihomosexual polemicists, the voice of these poems is typically a mature gay man (Sappho is one of but a few women represented), the object a smooth-cheeked youth. Selections from medieval Arabic and Hebrew poetry provide some of this anthology's most disarming reading?e.g., Imn Shuhaid's "he passed me in a herd of deer, a smiling moon with lucky teeth"?as well as evidencing the improbable license apparently then possible under Islamic rule. Though generally capable, the translators sometimes resort to anachronisms (a calculator in a Juvenal satire?) and contemporary subculture argot to mixed effect. And aside from brief introductions to each section and to individual poets, the annotations are minimal?too minimal, perhaps, for many a lay reader without a literary dictionary immediately at hand. For more scholarly collections. --Thomas Tavis, San Francisco P.L.

Due to recent delivery issues with the USPS I now ship all magazines, digests and paperback books via Priority Mail. $100 of insurance is included in this price. I’m selling my collection of vintage 1950-1980s gay pulp paperback novels, pictorial & hardcore magazines, physique photography, magazines, artwork & other LGBTQ ephemera.