When first published in 1972, A Historic Collection of Gay Art was the first book to document explicit expressions of gay male sexuality in the graphic arts, from antiquity to pop culture; its frank and unapologetic survey of the pleasures of the flesh was, for gay men, unprecedented, and it remains the starting-point for modern-day discussions of erotic gay male artwork and comics.

This new edition has been updated by the original author, Felix Lance Falkon, and Thomas Waugh, author of the similarly-themed bestsellers Out/Lines and Lust Unearthed. It features erotic line drawings and other artwork from ancient Greece to 1970s America, by artists both anonymous and infamous (including Tom of Finland, Graewolf, Blade, and Aubrey Beardsley), as well as an insightful narrative that provides a fascinating historical context for these images, including their production and dissemination. There is also a preface by Earl Kemp, one of the book's original editors, on the story of its publication at a time when the celebration of gay men's sexuality was still a dangerous thing.

Gay Art also provides a modern-day discussion about pleasure and permission: questions about how we define erotic imagery, and what we should and should not be allowed to see. Subversive, smart, and sexy, Gay Art takes erotic images from the past out of the closet and into the light of present day.