1912 · [New Orleans
by [Struve, Billy]
[New Orleans, 1912. [96] pp. Original printed wrappers, printed in pale blue, bound into half calf. Numerous advertisements printed in red and black with photo illustrations of the interiors of brothels. Minor wear, Very Good plus.
A "Directory and Guide of the Sporting District... the only district of its kind in the States set aside for the fast women by law." The Blue Book prints a directory of prostitutes, organized alphabetically and by "white," "octoroons," "colored." Various "cabarets" are also listed, delineated as "white" or "colored." Full-page advertisements are printed for liquor, restaurants, cigars, an attorney, pharmaceuticals, taxis, turkish baths, candy, a piano tuner, hotels-- everything a Sporting Guy might want. Page [5], bowing to the Comstock Law, warns in red ink, "This Book Must Not Be Mailed."
Between 1897-1917, New Orleans sported a thriving legal red-light district at the border of the French Quarter. Unlike other cities, the New Orleans city council in 1897, under the direction of alderman Sidney Story, moved the operations of "lewd and abandoned" women into a designated area, which was soon known as Storyville. Publisher William Struve was an ex-police reporter for the New Orleans Daily Item.
We suggest a probable 1912 publication date, and certainly not later, for this edition, which includes a full-page advertisement, and photo illustrations, for the "sporting house" of Miss Josie Arlington, at 225 Basin Street. Later editions omit Miss Arlington, who died in 1914. Later printings also include an advertisement for Miss Bertha Weinthal's house, which was not established until 1913. See, Arceneaux, Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville. (Inventory #: 40531)
A "Directory and Guide of the Sporting District... the only district of its kind in the States set aside for the fast women by law." The Blue Book prints a directory of prostitutes, organized alphabetically and by "white," "octoroons," "colored." Various "cabarets" are also listed, delineated as "white" or "colored." Full-page advertisements are printed for liquor, restaurants, cigars, an attorney, pharmaceuticals, taxis, turkish baths, candy, a piano tuner, hotels-- everything a Sporting Guy might want. Page [5], bowing to the Comstock Law, warns in red ink, "This Book Must Not Be Mailed."
Between 1897-1917, New Orleans sported a thriving legal red-light district at the border of the French Quarter. Unlike other cities, the New Orleans city council in 1897, under the direction of alderman Sidney Story, moved the operations of "lewd and abandoned" women into a designated area, which was soon known as Storyville. Publisher William Struve was an ex-police reporter for the New Orleans Daily Item.
We suggest a probable 1912 publication date, and certainly not later, for this edition, which includes a full-page advertisement, and photo illustrations, for the "sporting house" of Miss Josie Arlington, at 225 Basin Street. Later editions omit Miss Arlington, who died in 1914. Later printings also include an advertisement for Miss Bertha Weinthal's house, which was not established until 1913. See, Arceneaux, Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville. (Inventory #: 40531)
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