Sex Manual for Those Married or About to Be by Kelly, G. Lombard - 1948

Augusta, Ga.: Southern Medical Supply, 1948 84 pp. Light soil and fading to covers. Text clean. Gift inscription to newlyweds on inside cover. Somewhat thumbed. Cover has lower corner crease. "Hosts of married couples are morons about sex." With this startling quotation as an opener, a University of Georgia professor of anatomy gives a frank and informal guide to sexual practice. While the author emphasizes there should be nothing shameful about sex, the title page states the booklet is distributed only by prescription for a dollar apiece. "Orders received direct from laymen without prescriptions will be returned to the senders." The manual is a quaint reminder of sexual attitudes that existed shortly after World War 2 as the first faint stirrings of women's liberation started seeping through American culture. Several illustrations provide cutaways of male and female genitalia and reproductive systems. Sexual relations are presented in a mostly clinical fashion, but the author does acknowledge that women as well as men have sexual desires that must be satisfied. However, he contends that twice a week is the recommended frequency to avoid "immediate or eventual harm to one or both of the individuals." He doesn't detail what problems over-indulgence might cause. Chapters deal with such subjects as use of a condom, need for lubricants, methods of birth control (as then existed, primarly condoms, rhythm method and questionable douches), frigidity, change of life (in both men and women), and sexual oddites, such as "caught penis" and priapism. Interesting the manual contains no mention of homosexuality. Cover notes that 130,000 copies were in print as of 1948, three years after the manual was first issues. Size: 12mo -- 7.5 In.