Homogenic Love by Edward Carpenter
The Library owns an inscribed copy of writer and homosexual rights campaigner Edward Carpenter’s 1894 publication Homogenic Love. This is one of the works in which Carpenter argued for the acceptance of same-sex love as an intrinsic feature of human existence and not deviance of some kind.
Moltke-Harden-Trial 1907 Postcard
A 1907 postcard praising the acquittal of journalist Maximilian Harden (1861–1927) in the first libel trial emerging from the scandalous Eulenburg Affair. Kuno von Moltke (1847–1923) sued Harden for what amounted to outings of allegedly homosexual members of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s entourage, including Prince Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld (1847–1921), a close friend of the Kaiser.
Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft
The Journal for Sexual Science was published by Magnus Hirschfeld, starting in 1908.
Vindex by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Published in 1864, Vindex is Karl Heinrich Ulrichs’ first text on male homosexual affection. Writing with the pseudonym Numa Numantius, Ulrichs presents his theory of the Urnings, a prototype of modern homosexual identity that Ulrichs argues is set at birth.
Teleny and Des Grieux
Teleny (1893) was produced and circulated in a clandestine manner in fin-de-siècle London. It is reputed to be the first homoerotic novel in English, and its authorship remains disputed. It is extremely rare, and of an initial print run of 200 there are only seven remaining copies. Des Grieux (1899) is a prologue or prequel to Teleny, although it was published later.
Wilbrandt – Fridolin’s Mystical Marriage
Adolf Wilbrandt (1837-1911) wrote the novel Fridolins heimliche Ehe in 1875. Clara Bell (1835-1927), a prolific translator, translated it into English as Fridolin’s Mystical Marriage for this edition published by William S. Gottberger in New York.
Freud – Interpretation of Dreams
One of Sigmund Freud’s most influential publications, Die Traumdeutung (The Interpretation of Dreams), was published in late 1899 (imprint of 1900) by Franz Deuticke’s small publishing house.
Kurt Hiller – §175
Kurt Hiller’s §175: Die Schmach des Jahrhunderts (§175: The Disgrace of the Century) was published by the Paul Steegemann Verlag in Hanover in 1922. Hiller (1885-1972) was a lawyer, pacifist, leftist political activist, and a gay Jewish man.
Norma Trist
Norma Trist: A Story of the Inversion of the Sexes (1895), by J. W. Carhart, was the first lesbian novel in English.
Maximin: Ein Gedenkbuch
Maximin: Ein Gedenkbuch (Maximin: A Memorial Book), published in 1907, was the work of German poet Stefan George (1868-1933). Dedicated to the memory of poet Maximilian Kronberger (1888-1904), who died young after contracting meningitis, the book is a beautiful art nouveau presentation of grief from Stefan George and the literary circle that famously orbited him. […]
