Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224 - Guild Press, Part 2 of 3

Acquired Tastes XLIII: 

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224

Guild Press, Part 2 of 3

Today, we take another look at The Guild Press. The Guild Press published from 1964 to 1972.

 

Herman Lynn Womack was the founder of  the Guild Press, a Washington, D.C., publishing house that catered almost exclusively to a gay male audience. You learned all about Womack's story last Monday. 

 

After making peace with his homosexuality and discovering that the academic life was not for him, Womack became interested in publishing. 

His first scrape with the law occurred about this time; a fraudulent investment scheme from which he escaped unscathed and netted a cool half a million in the process. That is how he  kickstarted  his own publishing empire.

With his ill-gotten gains, Womack acquire a small printing plant in Washington, D.C. He then began buying up various physique magazines. By 1960, Guild Press became a profitable publishing enterprise, printing art and physique magazines and providing a national mail-order business. When obscenity charges began piling up, Womack avoided prison time by contriving to serve his sentence at a federal psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeths Hospital.  Womack had a degree in psychology, and was able to manipulate the doctors who interviewed him to ensure he'd never see the inside of a prison cell. From in private room at St. Elizabeths, he continued to operate his business.  

Womack appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, ultimately winning the case, thereby carving out greater freedoms for gay publications throughout the United States.  

Guild Press serving as 'middleman' 

for Private Edition books

In the aftermath of his Supreme Court victory, Womack revived his physique magazines. Upon acquiring a new printing press, he began publishing or republishing books. What began as a mail order business with Guild Press serving as a middleman for other publishers, became a full-fledged publishing house.

Initial books were hardcover, but by 1968, pamphlet-sized wraps (folded and stapled, rather than with a spine and bound) became the publishing house's chosen format. Imprints in this format included the GPA (Guild Press Award) series, the Black Knight Classics series, the Road House Classics series, the Twilight Classics series and the Stuart House Classics series. He soon branched out into newsletters, newspapers, a chain of bookstores (Village Books) and even a clothing line featuring the jocks and underwear worn by models in his physique magazines. 

However, in 1970, due to charges regarding the use of underage models, Womack's empire began to crumble. Bankrupt by 1974, he moved to Boca Raton, Florida where he died in 1985.

Please note: a comprehensive list of Guild Press titles does not (yet) exist. I've done what I could gleaning information from my usual sources along with literature from Guild Press promoting various titles and special sales. 

Initially, Guild Press published hardcover novels; all the titles below are hardcover editions. However, that gradually gave way to softcover wraps (folded and held together with staples as opposed to being bound), no doubt due to cost of making and shipping hardcover books and the fact that most of the new titles being created in-house fell below the 100 pages mark. 

Currently, these hardcover books go for hundreds of dollars. I recently found a copy of Phil Andros' $tud listed for $1,400 with other titles ranging from $249-$498.

Here are the next ten Guild Press titles.

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A Wicked Pack Of Cards

Author: Hugh Ross Williamson

Guild Press

1965

Hard Cover

American Edition

The 'wicked pack of cards' of the story is the Tarot pack. A young schoolmaster, on a motoring holiday, is attracted by an inn-sign of the Four Kings, representing the heads of the Tarot kings. He discovers that the sign-painter was found dead on the moors near the inn shortly after he had finished it. Although no one has challenged the verdict of Death by Misadventure, there is an air of suspicion in the neighborhood and he finds himself drawn into a personal investigation as to whether the death was in fact accident, suicide or murder.

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Desert Dreamers

Author: Gerald Hamilton

Introduction by Christopher Isherwood

Guild Press

1966

Hard Cover

Reedition of novel of gay love set in Biskra, Algeria, between an Englishman and an Algerian, first published under a pseudonym in 1914 in an edition of only 250 copies. This reedition features an introduction by novelist Christopher Isherwood and is also quite scarce. Current going price: $550-$780.

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Six

 Author: Dunsmore 

Guild Press

 1966

Softcover Wrap

A series of short stories. At this point in their history, Guild Press began to move toward original material and softcover wraps (fold and staple).

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 A Summer on Fire Island

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1966 

Softcover Wrap

Also published by the Twilight Classics imprint as Twilight-106. Illustrated.

You can view a PDF version of this book at the Houston LGBT History site.

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Sextet; Six Short Stories

 Author: Peter  Randolph  

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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 The First Time

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1967 

Softcover Wrap

Features a series of short stories.

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Of Greenbacks and Dress Blues

 Author: J.J. (James) Proferes 

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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 A Sweet Gentle Boy

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

1967 

Guild Press

Softcover Wrap

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 Blaze of Summer

  Author: Alexander Goodman

 1967 

Guild Press

Softcover Wrap

Features a series of short stories.

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Jerry and Jim

 Author: Guy Dandridge 

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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And that's all for now.

Next up: more Guild Press titles.

Until then...

Thanks for reading.

Fire Island - The Village People