LGBTQ+ Studies at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Clark Library’s rare books and manuscript collection is composed of literature and poetry with explicit and implicit homosexual themes. Texts from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries consider themes of homosexuality and religion, queer romance, homoeroticism, tolerance for homosexuality, sodomy, Sapphic Greek poetry, lesbian relationship, and more. The following subsections are a sampling of the collection.

Examples:

• Colman, George. Don Leon: A Poem by the Late Lord Byron, Author of Childe Harold ..., and Forming Part of the Private Journal of His Lordship, Supposed to Have Been Entirely Destroyed by Thos. Moore ... ; to Which Is Added, Leon to Annabella, an Epistle from Lord Byron to Lady Byron. London: Printed for the Booksellers, 1866. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR4373 .D67 1866 *: The book has falsely been attributed to Lord George Byron (1788–1824), but it is likely by George Colman (1762–1836). The text offers a defense of homosexuality. 
• Hichens, Robert. The Green Carnation. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1894. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR5819 .P612h 1894 *: Robert Hichens (1864–1950) was friends with Wilde and Douglas, and he based The Green Carnation’s main characters on them. 
• Kains-Jackson, Charles. “Rimes.” 1886. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2021.054: A book of poetry by Charles Kains-Jackson (1857–1933) interwoven with the pages of a pomologist manual. Many of the poems include homosexual themes.

Examples:

• Cory, Donald Webster. 21 Variations on a Theme. Collected by Donald Webster Cory. New York: Greenberg, 1953. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR5825 .T97 *: A collection of short stories with same-sex themes collected by Donald Webster Cory (1913–1986), a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. 
• Louÿs, Pierre. The Songs of Bilitis. By Pierre Louÿs ; Translated from the Greek. London: Fortune Press, 1928. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PQ2623.O8 C4E 1928 *: Sapphic verses influenced by classical literature by Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925). 
• Vivien, Renée. Les Kitharèdes; traduction nouvelle avec le texte grec. Paris: A. Lemerre, 1904. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PQ2643.I9 K62 *: Renée Vivien (1877–1909) was a lesbian poet who wrote in French. Les Kitharèdes is a French translation of Greek poetry by women with creative liberties on Vivien’s behalf. Sapphic themes are present throughout the book. 
• Willy. Le troisième sexe. Willy; introduction de Louis Estève. Paris: Paris-édition, 1927. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; HQ76.25 .W57 1927 *: The Third Sex explores gay life in Western Europe during the 1920s. It is written by Willy, the pseudonym of Henri Gauthier-Villars (1859–1931), a novelist, music critic, and the husband of Colette (1873–1954), a famous French author. 

To find books related to homosexuality in literature at the Clark Library go to UC Library Search. Click on “Advanced Search,” select the “Subject” field, and type either “Homosexuality,” “Homosexualité,” “Lesbianism,” “Lesbians,” “Gay men,” or “Gay men – Poetry.” To find works by specific authors, select the “Author” field and type “Louÿs, Pierre, 1870–1925,” for example. You can also do a keyword search either in the simple search or in the “Any field” field of the “Advanced Search.” Once you have search results, you can limit to the Clark Library by selecting it from the “UCLA Locations” facet.