A HARD-TO-FIND TITLE FROM ALL STAR ENTERPRISES IN LOS ANGELES, L’AFFAIRE WAS A SHORT-RUN GAY ADULT MAGAZINE PRODUCED BETWEEN THE LATE ’60s AND ’70s. WHAT MAKES THE SERIES STAND OUT TODAY IS HOW LITTLE OF IT SURVIVED — MOST ISSUES WERE PRINTED IN SMALL BATCHES AND CIRCULATED THROUGH MAIL-ORDER NETWORKS, WHICH IS WHY COMPLETE COPIES ALMOST NEVER SURFACE.

THE EARLY RUN IS ESPECIALLY PRIZED: VOL. 1 ISSUE 1 FEATURES MULTIPLE PHOTO APPEARANCES BY JOHN C. HOLMES, LONG BEFORE HE BECAME ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE NAMES IN ADULT FILM. THAT CONNECTION ALONE HAS PUSHED SURVIVING COPIES INTO RARE-BOOK CATALOGS AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS FOR YEARS.

BY THE MID-SERIES ISSUES, L’AFFAIRE HAD SETTLED INTO A STREAMLINED FORMAT WITH MINIMAL TEXT AND FULL-PAGE IMAGERY — A VERY 1970s STYLE THAT MAKES EACH ISSUE FEEL MORE LIKE A PORTFOLIO THAN A MAGAZINE. ISSUE NUMBERS ABOVE SIX ARE DOCUMENTED BUT SELDOM SEEN.

IF YOU COLLECT VINTAGE GAY PRINT, UNDERGROUND EROTICA, OR EARLY ADULT-INDUSTRY EPHEMERA, L’AFFAIRE IS ONE OF THOSE TITLES THAT RARELY APPEARS AND DISAPPEARS FAST WHEN IT DOES. A GENUINE PIECE OF QUEER PUBLISHING HISTORY WITH A CULT FOLLOWING AMONG COLLECTORS.