SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT

New York: Rinehart & Company, 1954. First printing. Very good in very good jacket.. First edition of the German-American psychiatrist's massively influential anti-comics polemic, illustrated with assorted gruesome panels posing grave moral danger to boys and girls. Wertham's best-known work grew out of several years' "scientific investigation" of juvenile delinquency and the contribution of comic books thereto. It was published in book form the same year the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) was formed and established a half-hearted self-policing regime over the industry via the the Comics Code Authority — restrictions which Werthem would dismiss as inadequate to the purpose. His condemnation of comic books in general and crime comics in particular encompasses the deviant sexual emphasis on thigh muscles found in comic-book drawings of men, women, and gorillas ("you know what I mean"), the "arousal of homosexual fantasies" inspired by socialite Bruce Wayne and handsome effete Robin, and the depraved criminal violence of horror comics, as well as the ungrammatical expletives of comic-strip voice balloons ("WH-AWWGG-HH-H!! HAAGH-H-H-H!!" and the like). Originally published with a bibliography of comic-book publishers, removed from this copy as from most first printings. 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter black cloth with mottled grey boards. Vermilion endpapers. In original unclipped ($4.00) red-lettered black and white dust jacket. Black-and-white illustrations. 397, [1] pages. Lacking bibliography leaf, as common. Light toning to board edges. Jacket with moderate scuffing and light soil, toning to extremities, sunning to spine. (Inventory #: 52998)