Rhythm

Brooklyn, NY: by the Author, 1935. First Edition. Slim, square octavo (21cm x 16cm); pictorial cream-colored paper-covered boards; [1-9]-50pp. Chiefly photographic illustrations. Mild external soil, else a clean, tight copy, Very Good or better. Foreword by Arthur Lee; photos uncredited but likely by Edwin F. Townsend, who was Sansone's principal photographer starting in 1929.

A collection of nude figure studies of famed bodybuilder, model, and dancer Tony Sansone (1905-1987), once described by Charles Atlas as "the most beautiful man in America." This is one of four books of nude portraits published by Sansone over his career; they were marketed (truncated) through the mails to a primarily gay audience, avoiding Comstock Laws by focusing on artistic poses or, as with the present title, focusing on an actual work of art, the Arthur Lee sculpture "Rhythm," modeled by Sansone and completed over a period of nearly five years. An early entry in the "beefcake" genre, and a beautifully produced little book. (Inventory #: 84797)