Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224 - Guild Press, Part 1 of 3

Acquired Tastes XLIII: 

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224

Guild Press, Part 1 of 3

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

The story of The Guild Press is actually the story of Herman Lynn Womack, and one worthy of a movie.

Herman Lynn Womack (1923–1985) was an American publisher, and the founder of  the Guild Press, a Washington, D.C., publishing house that catered almost exclusively to a gay male audience and played a major role in expanding the legal protections for gay publications against obscenity laws in the United States.

Womack began life as the son of an alcoholic tenant farmer who was incarcerated for killing his best friend. His collegiate life began at the University of Mississippi before transferring to George Washington University in D.C. There, he earned an M.A. in psychology. 

By 1946, he'd come to terms with his homosexuality, leading to the dissolve of his second marriage, which coincided with the closing of the Howell Academy, a private boarding school which Womack owned and operated but at which he was reportedly rarely present. 

He returned to academia, enrolling in a Ph.D. program in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, where he subsequently received his doctorate in 1955. After a stint as an adjunct professor of Philosophy at the George Washington University, he was hired at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, but ultimately decided the academic life was not for him.

His first scrape with the law occurred about this time - a fraudulent investment scheme - from which he escaped unscathed. Fortunately for him, he'd netted a cool half a million in the process and it is this money that served for the kickstart of his publishing empire.

With his ill-gotten gains, Womack acquire a small printing plant in Washington, D.C. where he launched MANual Enterprises, an earlier incarnation of The Guild Press, which initially concentrated on physique magazines. With his acquisition of the magazine TRIM from Randolph Benson, Womack established a habit of buying up the various physique magazines he, himself, had enjoyed for many years. By 1960, he'd acquired another Benson magazine, Grecian Guild Pictorial, MANual (a Chicago physique art publication), and Fizeek.

By 1960, Guild Press became a profitable publishing enterprise under Womack's leadership as publisher and sole proprietor and was printing art and physique magazines and providing a national mail-order business.

Between 1960 and 1962, Womack and his photographers faced a number of obscenity charges, with his magazines being seized and destroyed. Eventually, Womack found himself facing eighteen months in prison. However, he avoided prison time by contriving to serve his sentence at a federal psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeths Hospital. At the time, homosexuality was still viewed as a mental illness, and Womack, who had a degree in psychology, was able to manipulate the doctors who interviewed him to ensure an appropriate diagnosis. Womack continued to operate his business while confined to St. Elizabeths, where he had a private room, a television and a typewriter.

Womack appealed his original conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, where his case was heard. He ultimately won the case, thereby carving out greater freedoms for gay publications throughout the United States, and establishing that erotica intended for gay males was "not obscene as a matter of law".

Guild Press serving as 'middleman' 

for Private Edition books

In the aftermath of his Supreme Court victory, Womack revived the distribution of his physique magazines, which had been suspended for much of 1962, and sought to ramp up production even further, acquiring a new printing press, relocating to a larger plant, and launching new publications. It was at this time that 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 first ten Guild Press titles.

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The Soft Spot

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1964 

 

Features four original short stories.

 

This is the first Guild Press book. The initial printing had a blue cover with the stories listed on the cover. Later printings featured a red cover and a different cover illustration.

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A Sliver of Flesh

 Author: Alexander Goodman

 1965 

Guild Press

Featuring four short stories.

Mail Order Form

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A Strange Love

Author: George Eekhoud

Guild Press

 1965 

Republishing and rebranding of the 1899 French classic Escal-Vigor.

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Carnal Matters; Four Short Stories  

Author: Alexander Goodman

 1965 

Guild Press

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 $tud

Author: Phil Andros (Samuel M. Steward)

 1966  

Guild Press

Reprinted in 1969 by J. Brian in San Francisco

So, there's quite a story regarding the publication of this book. Andros and Womack hit it off over lunch and the rights to $tud were purchased. However, Womack ended up going to St. Elizabeths Hospital and the book sat in a warehouse unbound. Womack and Andros stopped talking to one another, because Andros had become very aggressive about getting his book on shelves. Eventually, Andros found a cheap paperback publisher willing to use a loophole in the contract with Womack's in order to publish the book. As that publisher's version of the book hit store shelves, Womack ordered all the unbound copies sitting in that warehouse to be bound and put on the shelves of book stores as remainders (discounted books), thus assuring that Andros would never see a penny in royalties. Needless to say, it signaled the end of their business relationship. 

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Handsome Is...

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1966 

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 Of Hot Nights and Damp Beds

 Author: J.J. (James) Proferes 

Guild Press

 1966 

This is the author's first book, a series of short stories. J. J. Proferes was owner of Washington D,C,'s Metropole Cinema. After Womack won his Supreme Court case, he delegated Proferes to serve as a proxy/business partner through whom Womack ran several of his businesses.

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Hellbound in Leather

 Author: J.J. (James) Proferes  

Guild Press

 1966

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 Mercenary Affections; Stories of the Homosexual Life

 Author: Alexander Goodman

 Guild Press

 1966

Mail Order Form

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 Navy Blues

 Author: J.J. (James) Proferes 

Guild Press

 1966

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And that's all for now.

Next up: more tantalizing titles from the Guild Press imprint.

Until then...

Thanks for reading.

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Strangelove - Depeche Mode