The Lesbian in Literature: A Bibliography

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In 1981, Barbara Grier published the third edition of the extremely influential The Lesbian in Literature. Maida Tilchen's foreword to the third edition gives a comprehensive overview of the history of The Lesbian In Literature.

The Lesbian in Literature's history is typical of so much of lesbian culture. Although it was primarily compiled by one incredible woman, Barbara Grier, hundreds of women contributed information for it.

It began as an outgrowth of The Ladder, the lesbian magazine published from 1956 to 1972. Barbara Grier had been collecting information on lesbian writing for many years.

In 1958, Marion Zimmer Bradley compiled two brief booklists, entitled "Astra's Tower Special Leaflets #2 and #3." In 1960, Bradley and Barbara Grier, who was using the pseudonym "Gene Damon," issued a hand-typed, mimeographed bibliography called "The Checklist," followed by supplements in 1961 and 1962.

In 1967, The Ladder published the first edition of The Lesbian in Literature, by Gene Damon and Lee Stuart. It included about three thousand books published through 1965.

Meanwhile, Barbara had been writing a regular column for The Ladder called "Lesbiana," in which she briefly discussed new books by writers known to be lesbians or having some relevance to lesbianism. Ladder readers from all over the world sent her information for the column.

In 1975, the Second Edition. an updated version of the bibliography, was issued. The authors were Gene Damon, Jan Watson, and Robin Jordan.

I can remember how enthusiastically the upcoming publication of this second edition was discussed at the 1975 Lesbian Writers' Conference in Chicago. Every woman there knew how useful The Lesbian in Literature would be, whether they used it primarily as readers, writers, book collectors, bibliographers, biographers, archivists, historians, researchers, or librarians.