Scanned issues of 1960s Avant Garde magazine

Avant Garde magazine ran for 16 issues from January 1968 to July 1971. It had a small print run, but is treasured today for its gorgeous design by art director Herb Lubalin. It was edited by photo-journalist Ralph Ginzburg, who was indicted by U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the 1960s for distributing obscene literature through the mails. This website has scans of most of the issues. I would love to have the dead tree version of the complete run.

Avant Garde is a seminal, but somewhat overlooked by a wider public, magazine, which broke taboos, rattled some nerves and made a few enemies. The magazine was the brainchild of Ralph Ginzburg, an eager and zealous publisher, even if the path that led to Avant Garde wasn't so straightforward. It represents the third major collaboration between Ralph Ginzburg and Herb Lubalin, the magazine's talented art director. The two previous magazines came to unexpected demise due to their candor and provocativeness, that landed them into legal trouble.

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