New Book 'The Pin-Up Mystery of 1950' Features Vintage Nudes

NEW YORK—Classic nude pin-up photos continue to be popular among adult entertainment fans, and now there's a new collection of them, The Pin-Up Mystery of 1950, which features more than 100 nude photographs of women taken in 1950. Edited by New York City entrepreneur Helen Thorne and author Gordon Eriksen, the book is based on the recent discovery of a collection of photographs taken more than seven decades ago that have never before been shown publicly. “This treasury of pin-ups gives us a unique look at the women in the year 1950, but the mystery of why they were locked away all these decades and who they are remains,” stated Ms. Thorne. The book was released this month by Asylum Publications, a Michigan publisher that specializes in works featuring illustrators, designers, writers, musicians and pop/counter culture. Negatives of the photos were found in a mid-century steamer trunk at an estate sale on New York’s Long Island, where they had remained untouched for more than 70 years. The names of the photographer and of the women featured in the book are unknown. Eriksen sees another puzzle in the find: how “an unknown amateur photographer, possibly in the pursuit of becoming a pin-up photographer, was able to persuade a group of women who could have been bookkeepers, sales ladies, actresses or homemakers into posing nude for him or her.”   Photos of about 35 women are featured in the book. “Who were these women?” Eriksen asks. “Who was the photographer? What does it tell us about how women saw themselves in the beginning of that memorable decade, the ‘50s?”   The Pin-Up Mystery of 1950 is a 96-page 8.5” X 11” trade paperback printed on enamel paper with a coated cover. All of the authentic vintage photos are B&W. Learn more about The Pin-Up Mystery of 1950 at ThePinupMystery.com or on Facebook.