| LIST 48 | 52 Items from the Delta Collection of the Library of Congress |
The rumor that the Vatican has an immense collection of erotic material may or may not be true, but for several decades, the Library of Congress definitely did. Called the Delta Collection, it was housed on the top floor of the Library, in Deck 38, to be exact. In what might be an exaggeration, a magazine article from the time said that the collection held “almost every erotic poem, essay and story ever written or translated into English.”
Sometime in the 1880s, a wealthy businessman in California left his vast collection of rare books to the Library when he died. Almost all of it was erotic, much privately printed and irreplaceable. As a bonus, the librarians also received hundreds of the deceased's erotic artworks. Luckily, instead of pulping this scandalous material, the Library created a special, restricted area to house it. In any era this would be an admirably progressive stance, but in the latter 1800s it was downright revolutionary.
The Delta collection grew as other erotica collectors bequeathed their stashes to the Library. On top of that, US Customs started sending over some of the “obscene” material seized on its way into the country.
Moldering documents recently recovered from the Library by intrepid researcher Michael Ravnitzky reveal that, as of 1960, the Delta collection was contained in two rooms described as “cramped.” In that year, plans were already being made to dissolve the collection, mainly by putting all but a few of the books into the open stacks. Only three books with “rather graphic illustrations” were pulled aside to be given to other libraries with erotic collections.
Some of the porn movies in the Delta Collection were destroyed in 1957, possibly earlier than that. A memo shows that in fall 1971, librarians incinerated thirteen large boxes of “other than printed matter,” plus more boxes containing photos, transparencies, hundreds of magazines, dozens of monographs, and “miscellaneous advertising.” At this point, the Delta collection seems to have gone the way of the dodo.
1. Attaining Manhood by George Corner (Harper, 1938)
2. Birth Control on Trial by Lalla Secor Florence (London: Allen, 1930)
3. The Bride of Ho Ling-Fu
4. The Decameron by Boccaccio
5. Encyclopedie de la Vie Sexuelle by Ludwig Levy-Lenz
6. Eugenics and Sex Harmony by Herman H. Rubins (New York: Pioneer Publishing Company, 1933)
7. Fanny Hill by John Cleland
This is a first edition bound in Morocco leather, allegedly from the collection of King George III.
8. The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius
9. Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana Mallanaga, translated by Richard Burton (New York, 1936)
10. Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. A Love Starved World by J.L. Pritcher (Los Angeles: Yale Publishing Company, 1932)
13. My Lives and Loves by Frank Harris
14. Odoratus Sexualis by Iwan Bloch (1933)
15. The Perfumed Garden by Sheikh Nefzaoui, translated by Sir Richard Burton
16. The Sex Criminal by Bertram Pollens (Macmillan, 1938)
17. Sex Questions and Answers by Fred Brown (Whittlesey, 1950)
18. Sexual Misbehavior by Arthur Hirsch (1955)
19. Sonnets Luxurieux by Pietro Aretino (Paris?, 1948)
20. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
21. Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
22-23. The Kinsey reports
(Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female)
24-26. Works by Catullus, Chaucer, and Rabelais
27. “Fuchs' multivolume set”
28. “A Gichner work”
This undoubtedly refers to Lawrence E. Gichner, who self-published three books: Erotic Aspects of Hindu Sculpture, Erotic Aspects of Japanese Culture, and Erotic Aspects of Chinese Culture.
29. One document notes that seized copies of “certain Communist propaganda publications” are to be sent to the Delta Collection.
30. Two documents mention that the Delta Collection houses “three-dimensional materials,” but no elaboration is given. Could this refer to dildos, diaphragms, and other types of sex toys and contraceptive devices? The mind reels.
31. The magazine article mentions “drawings and etchings, beautifully done by French, German and Italian masters—all portraying men and women engaged in the strangest types of sexual activities.”
32. “Girly” photos of nude and semi-nude women
Official descriptions include: “Nude girl lying prone on bearskin rug. Red background. Title: Grin and bare it.” “Red-haired girl clutching frantically at torn halter of skimpy bathing suit. Title: Help!”
33. Pornographic comic books
(certainly including the legendary Tijuana bibles) with titles such as “Maggie and Jiggs,” “Toots and Casper,” “Jimmy Durante and Mae West,” and “Terry and the Dragon Lady.”
34. Stag films
35. Naughty postcards
36. “life-sized reproductions of the famous Marilyn Monroe nudes”
37. “the original versions of cleaned-up folk songs sung by artists like Burl Ives, Josh White and Harry Belafonte.” Specific songs include “Erie Canal” and “The Streets of Laredo.”
38. “torrid jazz songs”
39. “stag-party jingles”
40. English translations of non-erotic works in Greek and Latin
These books were considered “socially undesirable” because university students were expected to read them in their original languages, and having an English-language copy would've been cheating.
The following are movies seized by the Post Office or Customs 1950-1957, and sent to the Delta Collection:
41. Como Desnudarse Delante Del Marido
42. Crimines Sexuales
43. Dos Entre Nudistas
44. Kernesse Rouge
45. Lectura Selecta
46. Our Sinful Daughters
47. El Profesor de Musica
48. Story of Birth
49. Vie Peccato
50. Plastycy
51. El Secreto de las Viciasos
52. Test Tube Baby
