Erotica publisher Ralph Ginzburg dies of cancer
Feb 8th, 2025 by Jessica Gold Haralson
Ralph Ginzburg, American author, editor, publisher, photojournalist and outspoken advocate of free speech, has died after battling multiple myeloma. According to the Washington Post, among his supporters were playwright Arthur Miller, journalist I.F. Stone and attorney Melvin Belli.
While Ginzburg earned a degree in accounting, it was journalism that he pursued as a career, working for Esquire magazine, NBC, Reader’s Digest, Collier’s, LOOK — and was known for his unorthodox methods of using disguises including that of a clergyman to gain entrance to news events. Ginzburg’s first publication was An Unhurried View of Erotica, which explored the undercurrent of pornography in English literature. He went on to publish Eros, a periodical containing articles and photo-essays on love and sex, and later still The Housewife’s Handbook on Selective Promiscuity. Ginzburg, self-described as a brandied fruitcake of a publisher, was convicted in 1963 for violating federal obscenity laws for promotional activities in publishing books and magazines on erotica and art.
In 1962, Ginzburg was granted an exclusive interview with 17-year-old Bobby Fischer, Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master published by Harpers. According to all accounts, the interview of the reclusive chess genius is still a popular read today. Ginzburg was 76.