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 nine books that are
currently available are described in
this Booklist. These
books can
be ordered
directly from Pagan Press (see Booklist)
— or from Amazon.com. PayPal can now be
used to purchase books directly from Pagan Press. The simple procedure
is described on the Booklist.
Although Pagan Press is a very small press, it has an excellent record.
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