Hollywood Babylon, Hardcover

Excuse the Wiki quote right out the gate, but "If a book such as this can be said to have charm, it lies in the fact that here is a book without one single redeeming merit." (New York Times) is pretty much perfection and had to be used.

In his inimitable style, filmmaker Kenneth Anger documents the highly disputed facts of, but not the salaciousness of, Hollywood up to the 1950s. The scandals, affairs, and decadence of that weird world and its denizens, and its impact on the greater culture. Super pulpy and totally rubbernecky, it was originally published in French in 1959 by J.J. Pauvert as Hollywood Babylone. It was published in the U.S. in 1965 by Associated Professional Services, banned ten days later and not republished until 1975 by Rolling Stone's Straight Arrow Press and distributed by Simon and Schuster. Later editions used a censored version of the Jayne Mansfield cover (no nipple). Full sized or pocketbook, both are great.

Design by Tony Lane and Kenneth Anger. Typset in Korinna. Used hardcover.