Review of The Leatherman’s Handbook: Golden Anniversary Edition by Larry Townsend
When Larry Townsend first published The Leatherman’s Handbook in 1972, he kicked the dungeon door wide open for queer men hungry for honest talk about leather, SM, and erotic power exchange.
Fifty years later, Safeword Press has re-issued the book in a handsome Golden Anniversary Edition, complete with a bold new cover by artist Ego Rodriguez and a crisp layout that finally rescues this cult classic from used-book-market purgatory. The moment I cracked it open, I felt the same electric mix of curiosity and permission that must have jolted readers in the early ’70s—only now the text is framed by half a century of lived kink history.
Why This Edition Matters
Accessible again: For two decades, the Handbook’s previous printings were scarce or outrageously priced. This re-release puts 368 pages of leather lore back within reach of newcomers and historians alike.
Contextual framing: A new preface reminds readers that the 2000 “Millennium Edition” was published in the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Townsend had hoped a future jubilee would find the crisis behind us. The editors honor that wish while acknowledging today’s broader, more inclusive kink landscape.
Period voices preserved: Quotations from leather luminaries such as Victor Terry, Jack Fritscher, and John Preston appear up front, underscoring the book’s impact on an entire subculture.
Townsend’s style is half field manual, half friendly bar-stool monologue. Chapters swing from etiquette (“don’t top from the bottom unless invited”) to practical safety (sterilizing toys, negotiating limits) to unabashed erotic storytelling that still feels raw and immediate. Reading it in 2025, I was struck by three things:
Radical consent before the jargon existed. Long before “Safe, Sane, and Consensual” or “Risk Aware Consensual Kink” became common acronyms, Townsend insisted that power games work only when boundaries are explicit and respected. His tone is sometimes breezy, but the ethics are unwavering.
Community as lifeline. Whether he’s mapping the hierarchy of a 1970s LA leather bar or extolling the mentorship of seasoned doms, Townsend frames kink as culture—shared rituals, shared responsibilities, shared joy.
Joyful explicitness. The erotic vignettes are graphic, yes, but never gratuitous. They’re teaching tools, normalizing fantasies that mainstream gay life—much less straight society—still tiptoed around at the time.
Some passages show their age—casual misogyny here, dated language there—but the core lessons hold up. I found myself highlighting lines about aftercare, communication, and cultivating self-awareness long before a scene begins. Those pages could have been written yesterday.
As a queer scholar and leather practitioner, I came for history and stayed for validation. Townsend speaks with the unapologetic confidence of someone who lived his kink loudly when that was dangerous.
That bravado can feel nostalgic, even quaint, but beneath it lies a blueprint for sustainable, ethical play—a blueprint many of us still follow. Closing the book, I felt re-anchored to the lineage of kink elders who made my freedoms possible.
The Golden Anniversary Edition is more than a commemorative reprint; it’s a restoration of a foundational text in the queer and kink canon. If you’re leather-curious, a seasoned BDSM player, or simply interested in LGBTQ+ history, add this to your shelf. Read it for the practical tips, the campy stories, and—most of all—for a glimpse of how courage, creativity, and consent forged a community that still thrives today.
