TALSMAN, William [James M SMITH, Pseud.] The Gaudy Image. Paris: The Olympia Press.1958.
Small format 8vo., original green card covers, ruled and lettered in black and white; pp. [vi], 7-259, [v]; title page with border in green; a very good to near fine copy, a little creased along the spine and rubbed at tips; very slightly spotted and marked to the outer edges of
the text block; otherwise clean internally.
First issue. No. 63 in the Traveller’s Companion series, priced 1.500 Francs to the lower cover. Printed in December 1958 by S.I.P., Montreuil. An Olympia Press catalogue issued c.1958 lists no. 63 in this series as being a novel by Henry Crannach [Marilyn Meeske]
entitled ‘Porridge Tasters’. The book was never written, and Talsman’s offering filled the gap.
Somewhat of a lost novel in the history of gay literature, The Gaudy Image follows the protagonist Titania [Thomas Schwartz] as he navigates a cast of characters in New Orleans in search of the perfect lover.
Kearney (p. 84-5)
#2121609