Men Only is a British soft-corepornographic magazine published by Paul Raymond Publications since 1971. However, the title goes back to 1935 when it was founded by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd as a pocket magazine. It set out its editorial stall in the first issue: 'We don't want women readers. We won't have women readers...' It sought 'bright articles on current male topics'. Humour was at the heart of the title, though from the start it carried fiction, wide-ranging articles and plates of 'art' nudes. Covers were initially text-only, then carried caricatures of famous people and photographs in the late 1950s. It published colour illustrations of models by artists such as Dickens and Vargas, on a page labelled 'Let's Join the Ladies'. When Pearson closed the Strand Magazine in 1950, it was castigated by The Economist for concentrating its resources on London Opinion and Men Only. Men Only had coloured frontispieces and rather trivial main pages. Another pocket title, Lilliput, was better known but Men Only took over London Opinion and then Lilliput in 1960. All these titles were affected by the growth of television; C. Arthur Pearson was taken over by Newnes, which became part of International Publishing Corporation in the mid-1960s. It also lost readers to titles such as Haymarket'sMan About Town and Playboy. In response, Men Only adopted a larger format and more pin-ups but was still mainly in black and white with a colour pin-up centre spread. It was sold on to City Magazines. In 1971, Paul Raymond, who ran nightclubs in London's Soho district, relaunched Men Only as the start of a top-shelf publishing empire and it was the main competitor to Mayfair as well as US magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse during the 1970s and 1980s. Over the years, models featured in Men Only have also appeared in different photo-shoots in Club International. Early issues of Men Only often included serious articles and interviews, though since the 1980s these have largely been omitted. Photographers from the early years included Fred Enke and R.B. Kane, and more recently Bob Twigg. Between January 2007 and December 2008, Men Only ran the full-colour comic stripBrit Starr by writer John A. Short and artist Gabrielle Noble. The strip spoofed current celebrity culture in one-page erotic gags. The publishers of Men Only also publish Club International, Escort, Mayfair, Men's World and Razzle. Their magazines are available in most newsagents, although some larger retailers require a modesty bag to protect minors from seeing sexually explicit imagery on the cover. As from 2013, the magazine is also available in digital format exclusively on the Paul Raymond digital newsstand. Men Only also has a digital identity on the official Paul Raymond site, where the hardcore imagery not found in the print version is also shown.
