One hundred years later and they are still not out of the closet. Far Rockaway pieces together a story contained in a bundle of early twentieth century love letters that the editor Maureen Cummins found at a flea market. Despite her painstaking research to reconstruct the identities and places, the story ends in anonymity for a second time when permission to identify one of the men for the book’s publication was denied by the executor of his estate. Pseudonyms now fill in for the names and places that were once clues. Conspicuous black marks attempt to erase these same identifiers on the facsimile copies of their selected correspondence. It is a powerful reminder that despite our changing times, aspects of our culture are as yet unwilling to accept open homosexuality.

Far Rockaway, is a fine press edition, (or artist book), that beautifully captures the unrequited love story between these two men from 1906-1908. Evoking memory and the sense of longing, the hand bound book covers are soft watercolor gradations of sky: day for the front cover and night for the back. The deluxe limited edition contains selected letters that are precisely duplicated down to their original size and shape. In the book’s introduction, Cummins notes that all too often letters and diaries describing homosexual relationships were destroyed by the owner, or his or her family and as a result, much scholarship on gay sexual history has relied on police records for information. The reproduction of these letters, however, opens a primary source window into the universal aspects of love and loss felt by all.

For more information contact Special Collections & Archives, Room 314.

Far Rockaway: A Romantic Correspondence / edited & with an introduction by Maureen Cummins. SpC 306.76620973 C971f2005