Bob Adelman (1930–2016)

Tijuana Bibles, containing sexually explicit cartoons, fulfilled an evident social need in the 1930s through 1950s. They were directed at an apparently avid public appetite for salacious imaginings on the fringes of popular culture, such as those of Hollywood and other aspects of the popular ‘celebrity’ press. This book provides a superb introduction to this phenomenon, including a wealth of amusing (and titillatory) examples, together with a helpful, brief analysis, in the form of brief informative essays, which places on record the sort of detail relating to production, and indeed subject matter, that might otherwise become evanescent. The pornographic licence enjoyed by this ‘art form’ in the otherwise morally repressive climate of the USA at the time is essentially due to the fly-by-night quality of the publishing process, although I imagine that suppression would have been deeply unpopular in certain parts of society, even if it had been capable of prohibition. The large format of the book is in character with its subject, and the volume is a valuable addition to the browsing area of an enlightened library.… (mais)