'TIS TYME YE SHUDE OFFER'TH UP THINE THANKS [Collection of Five Gay Holiday Cards and Posters in Accompanying Pictorial Envelope
Collection of five explicit gay-themed Stonewall-era cartoons presented as mock holiday cards and posters, all signed "Chic."
Price: $800.00
'TIS TYME YE SHUDE OFFER'TH UP THINE THANKS [Collection of Five Gay Holiday Cards and Posters in Accompanying Pictorial Envelope
"Chic o' Frisco" is listed as an author in the Online Archive of California's collection of San Francisco LGBT Business Ephemera, and is also mentioned by that name (as designer of a parade float) in the October 1970 issue of "Vector: A Voice for the Homosexual Community," the official publication of the Society for Individual Rights (SIR). Cards are reminiscent of vintage novelty kitsch-erotica for the heterosexual market, with an added subversive political edge; some drawings are self-consciously retro in style and repurpose patriotic/jingoistic iconography or ad-copy language for satirical or pornographic ends. Shares some visual sensibility with the work of Tom of Finland, whose style at the turn of the decade likewise traded on a pre-established vocabulary of masculine tropes. Rare and ephemeral.
The Object
n.p. 1968-9. Five holiday cards and posters in original 12.5'' by 9.5'' pictorial envelope, all with original mail folds as issued. Envelope ragged along edges with some tears, otherwise very good to near fine. Four of the cartoons are 18'' by 12'' (9'' by 12'' folded); one is 9'' by 12'' (9'' by 6'' folded). The contents of this collection are as follows: 1."'Tis Tyme Ye Shude Offer'th Up Thine Thanks." Pictorial mailing envelope printed in gilt; 12.5'' by 9.5'' 2. "Kampik Stripz, or Brown Nosein' Thru 'Fairyland.'" 1968. Poster depicting six homoerotic cartoon vignettes printed in black on orange background. 18'' by 12.'' 3. Labor Day Sport: Have a Ball! or Two." Bifolium printed in black on yellow stock; pp. [2-3] feature an illustrated poem: "Septembers [sic] 'Golden' Song." Celebrating "Happy, Gay Labor Day Preversions..." 9'' by 12'.' 4. "Uncle Needs You! an All the Gang for a Bangin 4th of July." Bifolium, exterior printed in white on red background, interior printed in blue on white background. 18'' by 12.'' 5. Happyness [sic] Is a 'Dad' Called Peter!" 1969. Bifolium "Father's Day" card printed in brown and yellow. 18'' by 12.'' 6. "'Coming' of the Pilgrims..." 1968. Bifolium Thanksgiving Day card printed in blue and gilt. 18'' by 12.''
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