VASTA

Fetish Digests: Beyond EXOTIQUE & BIZARRE ~ A Selection

In the world of collectible magazines the digest sized fetish, bondage magazines stand out as desirable and avidly sought after. Exotique and John Willie's Bizarre magazines top the "must have" lists. However there were many imitators, copy cats that were not quite what they promised to be, but nonetheless been added to collector want lists. Here are some random titles circa late 1950s/early 1960s. Above is a rare fem/dom illustrated cover by Gene Bilbrew. Also included here are titles from Selbee which were always top notch.

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Marvelously odd cover by an unknown artist

Bilbrew cover for Follies of Venus

Ultra #1 Bilbrew cover

Exotica was spun out of Exotique by Burmel

Eric Stanton cover published by Selbee

Bilbrew cover for Ultra #3

One of the few magazines of the era published in Los Angeles.

Initiation Week, a spin-off from the Fantasia series published by Lucien Press

Masque #2 by Selbee, Bilbrew cover

Deborah published by Selbee as part of their "Connosseur"

series, cover by Stanton

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BIG & BOUNCY Magazine ~ 1960s Busty Babes

Here's an illusive digest sized magazine from the early 1960s, Big & Bouncy, devoted to busty babes published by World Wide News Corp. Short lived, maybe two issues published, filled with "Big, Bold, Bare & Buxom Gals 42+ !"

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Lovely U.K. beauty Ann Austin

Terri Higgins

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Artist PETER DRIBEN ~ American Pin-Ups Part Two

Robert Harrison's publications started in 1939 picking up where the great American pulps (Stolen Sweets, Spicy Stories, Gay Paree, etc.) left off with their seductive pin-up covers, many created by the legendary Enoch Boles. Harrison started with Beauty Parade (the first cover featuring a "cave woman" by Earl Moran) and followed suit with Wink, Titter, Eyeful, Flirt and finally Whisper which lead to his biggest commercial success, Confidential magazine, the "hush, hush" inspiration for the film noir Hollywood story, L.A.Confidential.

The magazines were filled with leggy models, glamor girls, strippers and starlettes posed in lingerie, stockings, garters and high heels, bathing suits and strip-tease costumes. The emphasis was on their legs, garters, stockings and foot wear; there was NO nudity. The covers were primarily pin-up illustrations painted "three-up" (three times the size of the actual magazine) with Peter Driben being the major contributor of cover artwork. Over the years I have bought and sold a few original Driben pin-ups. His ability to capture the charm, figure and seductive essence of a woman with a brush and oil paint is evident in the cover artwork he created for Harrison's publications.

Here, from my archives, is Part Two of an homage to one of the great American pin-up artists of the 1940s and '50s. Featuring cover artwork by Driben as well as samples of the photographic layouts.

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