Ovid Publishing Group

LGBTQ+
Library

Bringing forgotten and overlooked works of queer literature back into print through new English translations and carefully annotated editions. Specializing in public domain works from the 18th through early 20th centuries, the collection recovers voices that were censored, prosecuted, published anonymously, or simply lost to time — from the gay underground of Weimar Berlin to the only surviving copy of an 1895 lesbian novel pulled from the shelves of the Berlin State Library.

Each edition pairs faithful new translations with scholarly introductions that place these works in their historical and cultural context, ensuring that the pioneers of LGBTQ+ literature finally reach the modern readers they were written for.

Censored Voices Recovered· New English Translations· 18th–20th Century Queer Literature· Scholarly Introductions· Public Domain Classics· Lost to Time — Restored· Censored Voices Recovered· New English Translations· 18th–20th Century Queer Literature· Scholarly Introductions· Public Domain Classics· Lost to Time — Restored·

The Collection

Titles in the LGBTQ+ Library

The Well of Loneliness
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London · 1928 · Obscenity Trial

The Well of Loneliness

Radclyffe Hall

The first novel in English to depict a self-realized lesbian identity with full seriousness and without apology. Published in 1928, it produced one of the most consequential obscenity trials of the twentieth century. This annotated edition includes scholarly introduction, critical analysis, and historical notes.

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The Scorpion
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Berlin · 1919 · Nazi Banned Book

The Scorpion

Anna Elisabet Weirauch

Published nine years before The Well of Loneliness, censored, placed on the Nazi Index of Dangerous Literature, and passed hand to hand across Europe. Now available in the first complete, unabridged English translation of both volumes.

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The Pious Dance
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Weimar Berlin · 1926

The Pious Dance

Klaus Mann

Set in the gay underground of Berlin and Paris's nightclub scenes, Klaus Mann's debut novel features the first unapologetic transgender character in 20th-century literature. A groundbreaking work of early modernist German fiction, now in a new annotated English translation.

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Love's Joy and Sorrow Between Women
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Berlin · 1895

Love's Joy and Sorrow Between Women

Emilie Knopf

Published in Berlin in 1895 and immediately banned under obscenity laws, this is the first complete English translation of a lost lesbian novel — recovered from a single surviving copy in a Berlin archive. Witty, warm, and astonishingly modern.

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Flowers of the Rhine
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Berlin, 1878–1933 · Serialized on Substack

Flowers of the Rhine

Arthur C. Rauscher

A serialized literary historical romance following Emilie Knopf and Marie von Czarwinski across fifty years of German history — from fin-de-siècle Berlin, through the Weimar gay underground, and into the shadow of the Third Reich. New chapters every week on Substack.

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About the Collection

Recovering the pioneers of LGBTQ+ literature

Ovid Publishing Group's LGBTQ+ Library brings forgotten and overlooked works of queer literature back into print through new English translations and carefully annotated editions. Specializing in public domain works from the 18th through early 20th centuries, the collection recovers voices that were censored, prosecuted, published anonymously, or simply lost to time — from the gay underground of Weimar Berlin to the only surviving copy of an 1895 lesbian novel pulled from the shelves of the Berlin State Library.

Each edition pairs faithful new translations with scholarly introductions that place these works in their historical and cultural context, ensuring that the pioneers of LGBTQ+ literature finally reach the modern readers they were written for.