423. RALPH GINZBURG American journalist, editor and publisher of Avant Garde, Fact, and Eros magazines. He was convicted in June, 1963 for the federal crime of sending pornography publications through the mail. His sentence would later be upheld by the Supreme Court in March, 1966. An archive of 34 T.L.S. signed "Ralph Ginzburg" (2) and "Ralph", 36pp. mainly 4to., on stationery from his magazines Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde, written between Jan. 18, 1964 to June 23, 1970, all written to NY Post columnist Leonard Lyons. In small part: "[Jan. 16, 1964] SEX is of great interest to Henry Luce [editor-in-chief of TIME and LIFE magazines] these days. Within the next three weeks, TIME will break precedent and devote its cover to an abstract subject: Sex & Morals in America. LIFE, meanwhile will do a big thing on obscenity, with speak emphasis on the EROS case... [May 27, 1964] The 'obscene' issue of EROS, which I have been fined $42,000 and sentenced to prison for five years for publishing, was yesterday awarded four Awards of Merit...this is a record number for any one issue of a magazine... [July 14, 1967] The first issue of my new magazine, AVANT-GARDE, will announce an international poster contest on the theme NO MORE WAR!... [Aug. 29, 1967] Muhammad Ali, known till now as a boxer, poet, epigrammatist, terpsichore, and Black Muslim minister, will now emerge as an artist with six pages of his drawings in full-color I the first issue... [March 28, 1969] advance tearsheets from the next issue... They contain an article by U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on the subject of folk singing, in which he says of Joan Baez: 'Joan's lyrics are tender, her humor light... when she sings of Vietnam, the soul of a nation seems to pour out in protest..." Other letters discuss such diverse topics as the Vietnam War, artists and singers, a profile of Hugh Hefner and a poll on the psychological fitness of Barry Goldwater to serve as President. Some letters have holographic corrections and all are in very good condition. $400-600