I have several four-up prints of John Willie photographs–four 4×5 inch prints on a single 8×10 sheet which were meant to be cut apart. I also have several strip set four-up prints. Strip sets normally were sold in sets of 12 in the 1950s when these photographs were shot. The 12 photographs would be printed on three four-up sheets. I am posting images of the four-up sheets and selected images from those sheets.

Over the years I have purchased a number of pinup and nude photographs. The photographs date from the early 20th century with the majority of photographs produced in the 1940s and 1950s.

The purchases were driven by various factors over the years. I might like a certain photograph because of the model, pose, or setting. There might be fetish elements like shoes or gloves. The photograph could be part of a group of photographs—from an album assembled in the 1940s or 1950s, from a strip set group of 12 or more photographs of a model or models, or the photograph came from a large lot of similar photos purchased in an auction. Currently I am keeping an eye out for 1940s nudes with a floral print fabric background. These factors mean that the collection is constantly being reassessed and reorganized as new material is added.

Several years ago I sorted through the collection and assembled photographs for ebooks on sold on Amazon. Most of the photos I am posting now are from those ebooks, mostly because the scans were available for creating smaller sized images.

The first group of photographs are of a model who appeared in Leonard Burtman’s Exotique magazine published in the 1950s. When the photographs appeared on eBay I recognized the model’s face and placed a bid.

At the same time Burtman was publishing Exotique and other fetish publications, he was also producing a large number of nude and fetish photographs. According to Robert Bienvenu in his thesis The Development of Sadomasochism as a Cultural Style in the Twentieth-Century United States (1998), a raid by federal authorities in 1959 included “167,000 pictures of nude and semi-nude models” (page 175). Most of the photographs were taken by Leonard Burtman in his apartment.

Attribution of photographs like those posted is difficult. These are just black and white photographs without anything written or stamped on the back (sometimes the original purchaser might make a note on the back of a photograph which is a lucky find). Any materials which would have provided more information was sent along with the purchased photos and almost always was immediately discarded. Unless a model or setting is recognized, photos of that period are grouped in a common category such as 1950s nude. As a collector I always want to know more.