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Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(LOUISIANA.) "Blue Book" guide to the Storyville red light district in New Orleans. [96] pages in red and black ink. 16mo, original blue wrappers with red ink, minor fading and minimal wear; small adhesions from front wrapper on first page, otherwise minimal wear to contents. [New Orleans, LA], circa 1913
The Storyville neighborhood of New Orleans was a legal prostitution zone from 1897 through 1917. These guidebooks were issued regularly for the use of customers. They each include an alphabetical directory of white prostitutes, followed by a "colored" section, full-page text advertisements for several madams, and numerous other advertisements for cigars, liquor, taverns, taxis, and more. Pamela Arceneaux's recent bibliography, Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville (which supersedes Heartman's 1936 effort), notes some special points for this issue, listed as #10. While it is usually found bound with two staples, some are found with three as seen here. This was the last of the Blue Books, the first not to advertise the banned French balls, and the first to list cabarets in addition to houses of prostitution. The likely date is established by a full-page ad for Miss Bertha Weinthal's house (established in 1913) and the omission of Josie Arlington, who died in February 1914. It does not have an edition number, but is thought to be the 12th (the second of two editions following the 10th). As usual, the third page bears a bold "This Book Must Not Be Mailed" notice, in deference to the Comstock Law. Billy Struve, a police reporter with the New Orleans Item, is thought to be the editor of the entire Blue Book series.
