Pagan Press logo
Pagan Press

Pagan Press was founded in 1982 to “publish books of interest  to the intelligent gay man.”

Pagan here denotes the culture of western Classical Antiquity — as opposed to the cultures of the Levantine religions which later came to prevail.
The first Pagan Press book was a reprint of Edward Carpenter's legendary anthology of romantic friendship, Ioläus, a work that had been out of print for over half a century. This was followed in 1983 by a collection of writings by John Addington Symonds, a pioneer spokesman for homosexual emancipation. It was entitled Male Love: A Problem in Greek Ethics and Other Writings, and was a Centennial Edition — 100 years after Symonds published A Problem in Greek Ethics in an edition of only 10 copies. Male Love and Ioläus were both chosen by Richard Hall, literary editor of The Advocate, as among the ten best gay books of the years they were published.

In 1986 Pagan Press published Death Rush: Poppers & AIDS by John Lauritsen and Hank Wilson. This little book (64 pages) warned gay men of the dangers of the nitrite inhalants (or “poppers”). Death Rush: Poppers & AIDS is now online. To read it and learn more about the nitrite inlalants click here.

All of these first three books have been out of print for many years. There are no copies left.

The five books that are currently available are described in this booklist. These books can be ordered directly from Pagan Press (see booklist) — or, they can be ordered from Calamus Books in Boston (617 338-1931) or from Amazon.com. In addition, any bookstore can place a special order for Pagan Press books. In the future it will be possible to order our books directly from this website, but this feature still needs to be developed.

Although Pagan Press is a very small press, it has an excellent record. All of its books have been extensively and favorably reviewed. All of them have at least broken even from sales, and two titles — Poison By Prescription and The AIDS War — were best sellers, by the standards of serious, non-fiction, small press books.

All Pagan Press books are printed on high quality, acid-free paper.


The Pagan Press logo above is a Victorian rendition of a Pompeiian fresco depicting Cupid in a chariot drawn by goats. The drawing was reproduced in Edward Carpenter's book, Angel's Wings:  A Series of Essays on Art and its Relation to Life (London 1898). It was also used on the front cover of that book, etched in gold against a dark blue background.


Comments? Questions? Email: info@paganpressbooks.com