The Sexy Digests

Click the group of publishers beginning with:

Archer

Cameo

Croydon

Ecstasy

Intimate

Leisure

Quarter

Uni

Venus

Some of the most collectible vintage paperbound books in the U.S., the digest-sized volumes with "pin-up" style cover art have an appeal that's impossible to beat.

The sleazy pulp magazines of the 1930’s (Snappy Stories, Spicy Mystery, Speed Western, Saucy Movie Tales, Film Fun, Night Life, etc) inevitably gave way to these risqué “romance novels." Since the text itself could only insinuate sexual action rather than describe it (which, of course, was illegal), the cover art really had to sell the book.

One of my favorite quotes by Gary Lovisi tells how collectors identify this genre: "We know these books when we see them," he says in his book The Sexy Digests (see the Reference Library section of the web site). And that's very true. They just have a look about them.

They can be especially difficult to find in decent condition. Digests as a whole are difficult to keep in collectible shape, but these were obviously read frequently by their adoring public. I for one find this interesting, because quite frankly, most of them are not very good. They tend to be overly dramatic, and while their themes deal with sexual situations, there is very little sex in them. Some take on a "hardboiled" theme, but often the works are just plain melodrama.

I decided to include this section of the web site in an effort to keep from duplicating the images, which quite properly belong in both the "Digest" section and the "Sleaze" section.

Please Note:  I have listed the publication name in only the first image of its group. If you get confused,  just click an image and read your browser's address line.

Kenneth R. Johnson's The Digest Index is the premier reference source for U.S. Digest-sized books. It's free to access Ken's books online. Click HERE.

This page was updated in October 2021