Eros was an American quarterly political and literary magazine that published only four volumes in 1962.[1][2]The New York Times described Eros as a “stunningly designed hardcover ‘magbook’,” covering “a wide swath of sexuality in history, politics, art and literature.”[2] The magazine was the first product of Ralph Ginzburg and Herb Lubalin who later created two other influential magazines, namely Fact and Avant Garde.[3]
History and profile
The first issue of the magazine appeared in Spring 1962.[2]Ralph Ginzburg was the editor and Herb Lubalin was the art director of Eros[1] which came out quarterly.[4] The focus of the magazine was on love and sex during the dawning of the Sexual Revolution.[1][2] It also covered articles on politics, arts and literature.[2]
The third (Autumn, 1962) of a total of 4 issues of the magazine published featured the photographs of Marilyn Monroe just before her death which caused an obscenity lawsuit against Ginzburg by then U.S. Attorney General, Robert Kennedy.[1] The magazine sold nearly 150,000 copies of this issue.[4] The reason for the lawsuit was the claim that the magazine had violated federal anti-obscenity laws.[2] Ginzburg was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, but he remained in prison for eight months.[2] Following this incident the magazine was closed down.[3]
In 2017 Mindy Seu created a website which contains the digital copies of Eros.[2]
