Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians, Photographs by JEB 1979
Washington DC: Glad Hag Books; distributed by The Naiad Press and Persephone Press, 1979.
Second Printing. Paperback. "Every womon here is proud of herself and her Lesbianism." — Joan E. Biren (JEB), dedication to Eye to Eye (1979). This important artifact of 1970s lesbian photographic and archival history comes from the estate of the late influential Jewish lesbian feminist, theorist, activist, and Women's Studies professor Dr. Bette S. Tallen (1950–2023), ephemera gained in her decades of activism and scholarship in higher education and in community for LGBTQ+ liberation, women's rights, and intersectional feminism who, like JEB, was also involved in the formation of a lesbian separatist community, The Sojourner Collective.
A serviceable second printing (identified against the first printing, by the reference to this as a second printing within JEB's dedication page) of Joan E. Biren's (b. 1944) groundbreaking collection of intimate and candid photographs of and interview excerpts with lesbians in 1970s America, with a foreword by Joan Nestle of the Lesbian Herstory Archives and a contextualizing introductory essay by author, co-founder of Lesbian Heritage/D.C., and scholar of American lesbian history Judith Schwarz, also of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and additional notes and resources, including recommended reading, from the author. Biren is best known for her work bringing visibility to lesbian life through her photography, a skill she honed during her time at the lesbian separatist Furies Collective, which she helped form with prominent figures such as novelist Rita Mae Brown and scholar and activist Charlotte Bunch, and which, though short lived, made a profound impact on lesbian thought through its newspaper The Furies.
Stated first edition, though JEB references a second printing in her dedication. 11" X 8 1/4". 80pp, some unpaginated. Bound in red pictorial wraps, featuring a photograph by JEB of lesbian elders Pagan and Kady to front cover, lettered in white to upper wrap and spine, with street photograph by JEB of a Black lesbian elder and blurbs by Audre Lorde, Ruth Mountaingrove, Tee Corinne, Ginny Vida, and Sally Gearhart in black over white box to rear wrap. "Distributed by The Crossing Press, Trumansburg, New York" ticket to rear wrap. Rather heavy wear to wraps, with gentle waving to rear wrap, dampstained to versos of both wraps, scattered rubbing and scuffing to wraps, and small neat tears and creases to edges and corners of wraps and to spine. Binding is firm, tight, and sound. Pages are clean and unmarked, though perhaps a hint of waviness from exposure to moisture. An admittedly time- and touch-worn early printing, but an overall complete, interior clean, and uncommon 1979 edition of JEB's landmark work of Lesbian photography, activism, and archivism. Good +. Item #17072
ISBN: 0960317600
Price: $300.00