(LGBTQ) GAY SUNSHINE: A BENEFIT READING (1977) Poster

San Francisco: Gay Sunshine, May 27, 1977. Vintage original 23 x 17 1/2″ (59 x 44 cm) poster, unfolded with scattered creasing, light stains and a small marginal tear reinforced with archival paper, overall very good.

One of 75 copies, numbered and signed by all eight of the writers participating in this benefit reading: Harold Norse, John Rechy, Aaron Shurin, Neeli Cherkovski, Allen Ginsberg, William Barber, Dennis Cooper and Robert Glück.

Founded by Winston Leyland in 1975, the Gay Sunshine Press is considered the oldest LGBTQ publishing house in the US and, along with the subsequent imprint of Weyland Publications (founded in 1984), the two imprints together have been responsible for the publication of more than 135 books, covering a range that encompassed everything from translations of gay-themed European and Asian literature (in one case, a small volume of previously untranslated poetry of Verlaine and Rimbaud) to contemporary gay erotica.

This poster dates from only two years after the official founding of the Gay Sunshine imprint.  The artwork features portraits of poets Norse and Ginsberg.  The OCLC records only three copies (at Emory, Northwestern and Texas A&M).