New Masses Volume 2 Number 5 March 1927
New York: New Masses, Inc., 1927. Otto Soglow Wanda Gag Art Young Diego Rivera. First Printing. Tabloid Stapled Wraps. Folio. Pp. 32. With black-and-white illustrations throughout, including a centerfold spread by Diego Rivera. Stapled illustrated wraps. Staples have oxidized, with inner leaf loose, and a dampstain running vertically along inner margin. Slight, closed tears along fore-edges of some leaves. With the ad for the celebrated Anti-Obscenity Ball on the rear cover. Good. Item #3489
After government authorities threatened New Masses with charges of indecency, the publishers turned the theme for their "Spring Frolic" from “Pan, the Uncensored” to the diametric opposite: the "Anti-Obscenity Ball." With arch, wry humor, the ad suggests attendees “yield to the over-whelming demand for PURITY, even at the expense of art.” Suggested costumes include "The Driven Snow," "The Children's Hour," "Nude's Nemesis" and "I Ain't that Kind of a Girl," among others. Prizes were awarded for the Demurest Costume but "No Booby Prize," natch. In keeping with the newfound turn toward purity, the editors suggest putting skirts on the piano legs.
With contributions by Whit Burnett, Upton Sinclair, Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos ("Paint the Revolution," etc. And a book review by Charles Erskine Scott Wood. Among illustrators Otto Soglow, Hugo Gellert, Wanda Gag (cover), Art Young, and others, the centerfold features a detail from the Diego Rivera mural, "Distribution of the Land among the Peons." For Pound citation, Gallup C690 and C690a.
Now preserved in a clear, removable archival sleeve with acid-free backing.
Price: $250.00