From early illustrated beauties and Victorian predecessors to cheesecake photography, Hollywood starlets, magazine spreads and the increasingly explicit imagery of the 1970s, Mark Gabor’s Pin-Up: A Modest History charts the evolution of the pin-up and the many forms it has taken over the last century.
 
Lavishly illustrated, the book explores the pin-up as both an image and a cultural phenomenon, covering posters, postcards, calendars, advertising and the glamour photography of the era’s magazines. Gabor also looks at the crossover between pin-ups and Hollywood, the rise of the sex symbol, and the tradition’s gradual move into soft porn and erotic photography.
 
The book also includes special spreads featuring imagery from Mayfair, Penthouse and the iconic Pirelli Calendars. Spanning the history of the pin-up through to the early 1970s, it’s a great vintage reference for anyone interested in photography, illustration, popular culture, fashion and erotica.