As part of our ongoing mission to bring you the very finest in reading matter, here for your personal delectation is the first issue of Dominate, a magazine for very specific interests published around 1960 (the actual publication date is unclear).
Should the title not be a clue, Dominate is a BDSM magazine, produced crudely and cheaply by the Bizarre Book Co. of Hollywood. In the sixty pages of this first “lavishly illustrated” edition, you can enjoy the fetish artwork of Rex, articles on De Sade and college hazing, a few flagellation fantasy short stories (Inferno Bound by Stella Birchwood, It Takes Two to Tangle by Lash Skinner – both author names possibly pseudonyms), some blurry bondage photo sets, books reviews of titles like Terror at the Bizarre Art Museum, The Devil’s Lash and Burlesque Jungle, and a suspiciously lengthy letters section in which readers discuss their spanking fantasies. Remember, this is the first issue, so where these readers were from is anyone’s guess – maybe enthusiastic Bizarre Book Co. customers simply couldn’t resist writing in to detail their secret desires.
Obviously, by modern standards, this is very tame stuff, and the crude production values give it a curious fanzine feel. It’s all rather sweet, in fact.
Enjoy!
