Our magazine for today is Exotica, and it's a Selbee Publication, so in my eyes it's already a gem.

Leonard Burtman founded Selbee. Burtman worked in the electronics industry in California in the 1940's. After some trouble with the authorities involving the transportation of false securities, Burtman felt it best to set up business elsewhere, and an entirely different business at that. He became a photographer and reportedly did some work for Irving Klaw before founding his own company in the early 1950's and his first publication, Exotique.

Lenny must have learned some things from Klaw, because he had the same fetish-bent attitude for the pictures: lots of heels and hose and leather and lingerie. The girls were usually strippers and nude models and you saw a lot of the same settings and props in the pictures. One model, the sexy Tana Louise, became Mrs. Burtman and had a column in every issue of Exotique.

Exotica had no date in the indicia, hence I'm unable to know the exact date. The magazine was published in 1962 OR 1963. (Thanks to Mushashi7 for determining that for us all.) This lack of publication date was a common tool for men's magazines at the time. If there was no date on it, customers were less likely to ignore it because it was last month's magazine. Besides, Burtman wasn't always able financially to print on a monthly basis. He often sold content to a couple of Canadian printers (Acme and Health Knowledge) who would make his magazines. In exchange, Burtman got some much-needed cash and copies of the magazine to distribute for himself.

Exotica continued in the same style of leather and heels as Exotique and featured a lot of sexy strippers and odd articles. This type of magazine is much to my liking and I hope to yours too. Enjoy.