THE QUEENS' VERNACULAR

(San Francisco): (Straight Arrow Press), 1972. First printing. Near fine.. First edition of this early, important, and extensive dictionary of gay slang. While 1964's LAVENDER LEXICON and the following year's THE GUILD DICTIONARY OF HOMOSEXUAL TERMS both precede Rodger's influential THE QUEENS' VERNACULAR, they were little more than short pamphlets. As Rodgers himself outlines in his introduction: "Previously gay slang has been explored only in slight, dated glossaries or in booklets, not much more than glossaries themselves." Rodger's guide, however, is both properly scholarly and firmly grounded in lexicographic practice — with pronunciation guides, usage examples, and more 12,000 terms and definitions. QUEENS' VERNACULAR not only remains an important resource, but one of the most extensive as well: "the magnificent, still unsurpassed Mother of all gay glossaries [that made] all previous attempts to document gay slang look like shopping lists scribbled on the back of a paper bag" (Kulick 251). 8'' x 4.5''. Original printed lavender wrappers. 272 pages. Faint creasing here and there. Touches of shelfwear. Else remarkably bright and clean.