Playboy Special Edition

Playboy Special Editions (formerly known as flats, then Newsstand Specials^[2]) are a spin-off series of Playboy magazine containing glamour and softcore nude photographs. The initially infrequent and later semi-regular editions ran from 1964 until the publication of the final issues in 2012.

Unlike the monthly magazine, which features a variety of articles, opinion columns, and works of fiction, only minimal text was included in the Special Editions, mostly consisting of captions of the photographs and readers' letters. Two issues were usually published each month. While the magazines often featured former Playmates of the Month, many other models also appeared in them.

Early issues, beginning in 1983, featured approximately 100 pages of old reprint and outtake photos of Playmates with no specially commissioned photos. Issues from the early 1990s began to include a number of "one-shot" models purchased in bulk from glamour photographers. By the mid-1990s, Playboy had established a distinct identity for the line by mixing new shots of recent Playmates with new models, some of whom soon became as popular as the Playmates themselves.

List of Special Editions

There were several long-running series of Special Editions, as well as short series and one-offs.

Book of Lingerie/Lingerie

Playboy Special Editions' longest-running series is Lingerie (formerly known as Book of Lingerie). The first issue was released as Book of Lingerie in 1984. Two further issues were published in 1987 and 1988; a bimonthly series began with the November 1988 issue. The title was changed to Lingerie with the September 2002 issue.

• Book of Lingerie (3 one-shots, 1984–1988)
• Book of Lingerie (bimonthly series, 1988–2002)
• Lingerie (bimonthly series, 2002–2012)

Celebrities

• Vanna White (1987)
• Kimberley Conrad Hefner (1989)
• Dian Parkinson (1993)
• Anna Nicole Smith (1995)
• Pam Anderson (1996)
• Rena Mero (Wrestling Superstar Sable) (1999)

College Girls

The 2002 May issue caused some controversy at Baylor University, which has a religious affiliation. Baylor declared that associating with the magazine would be a violation of the school's code of conduct.^[3]

• College Girls (four one-shots, 1983–1993)
• College Girls (series, 1995–2012)
• Sexy College Girls (two issues, 2001–2002)
• College Girls Wet & Wild (one-shot, 2002)
• Nude College Girls (three issues, 2003–2005)

Girls/Women of the World

• Women of the World (one-shot, 1987)
• Girls of the World (two issues, 1992–1994)
• Sexy Girls of the World (two issues, 2001–2010)

Nudes

• Nude Celebrities (two issues, 1995, 1997)
• Nudes (annual series, 1990–2005, 2011–2012; semiannual, 2006–2010)
• World Wide Nudes (one-shot, 1996)

Playmate Search

• Great Playmate Hunt (one-shot, 1989)
• Great Playmate Search (one-shot, 1994)
• Playmate 2000 (two issues, 2000)
• Playmate Search 50 (one-shot, 2004)

Playmates

• Calendar Playmates (one-shot, 1992)
• Celebrating Centerfolds (five issues, 1998–2000)
• Centerfolds of the Century (one-shot, 2000)
• Classic Centerfolds (one-shot, 1998)
• Facts & Figures (one-shot, 1997)
• International Playmates (two issues, 1992–1993)
• Nude Playmates (one issue per year, 1997–1998, 2001–2012)
• Playmate Review (annual series, 1985–2012)
• Playmate Tests (two issues, 1998–1999)
• Playmates (two issues, 1983–1984)
• Playmates at Play (one-shot, 1994)
• Playmates in Bed (eleven issues, 1995–2008)
• Playmates in Paradise (one-shot, 1994)
• Playmates in the Spotlight (one-shot, 1989)
• Playmates of the Year (two issues, 1986, 2000)
• Pocket Playmates (six issues, 1995–1997)
• Sexiest Playmates (one-shot, 2001)
• Twenty-One Playmates (two issues, 1996–1997)
• Video Playmates (one-shot, 1993)
• Wet & Wild Playmates (one-shot, 1994)

Voluptuous Vixens/Vixens

The Voluptuous Vixens / Vixens series features models with large breasts. Ten issues of Voluptuous Vixens were published, once or twice per year, beginning in 1998. A bimonthly series, simply titled Vixens, began in 2005 and ran for twelve issues. The original title resumed in 2007, appearing on a thrice-yearly schedule.

• Voluptuous Vixens (ten issues, 1998–2004)
• Vixens (bimonthly series, 2005–2007)
• Voluptuous Vixens (thrice-yearly series, 2007–2012)

Wet & Wild

• Wet & Wild Women (three issues, 1987–1993)
• Wet & Wild (ten issues, 1996–2011)

One-shots

• Women of Television (1984)
• Playboy - The Parody (1984)
• Women Newsmakers (1985)
• Pompeo Posar (1985)
• Entertaining Women (1985)
• Sporting Women (1986)
• Country Girls (1987)
• Holiday Girls (1987)
• Photography (1988)
• Women on the Move (1988)
• 100 Beautiful Women (1988)
• Sex and Other Late-Night Laughs (1990; contains cartoons only)
• Women (1991)
• Career Girls (1992)
• Beauty Queens (1994)
• Hot Denim Daze (1995)
• Sexy Ladies (1995)
• Blondes (1995)
• Sexy Swimsuits (1996)
• Lingerie Model Search (1997)
• Sexy Latin Ladies (1997)
• Women of Color (1997)
• Playboy's 1998 Guide to Men's Clubs (1997)
• X-Girls (1997)
• Body Language (1998)
• Sex Stars of the Century (1999)
• Asian Beauties (2000)
• Sexy Girls in Sports (2000)
• CyberGirls (2002)

List of Playboy Supplements

Before publishing its Special Edition line, Playboy published a line of hardcover and paperback volumes featuring text, photos, and cartoons; some included only content reprinted from the parent magazine; others incorporated original material. Several volumes collected only cartoons from the magazine. A few volumes went through multiple printings, sometimes with replacement covers.

Series

• The Best From Playboy/Playboy Annual (three hardcover volumes, 1954-1957)
• The Playboy Cartoon Album (eight volumes, 1963–1981)
• The Best from Playboy (ten volumes, 1963–1983)
• Playboy's Holiday Album (two volumes, 1970–1971)
• Playboy's Girls of the World (two volumes, 1971–1972)
• Playboy Bunnies (three volumes, 1972–1983)^[4]
• The Pocket Playboy (six volumes, 1973-1975)
• The Girls of Playboy (five volumes, 1973–1982)
• Eve Today (two volumes, 1974–1975)
• Playboy's New Holiday Album (two volumes, 1975–1976)
• Ecstasy (two volumes, 1976)
• Sexy Ladies (two volumes, 1977–1978)
• Fashion For Men (semiannual series, 1981–1983)

Cartoonist Collections

• Playboy's John Dempsey (1970)
• Playboy's Phil Interlandi (1971)
• Playboy's Little Annie Fanny (1972)
• Playboy's Alden Erikson (1972)
• Playboy's Vargas Girls (1972)
• Playboy's Gahan Wilson (1973)
• Playboy's Buck Brown (1981)

One-shots

• The Sexual Revolution (1970)
• The Youth Culture (1971)
• Mirror of Venus (1972)
• The Sensuous Society (1973)
• Women by 10 (1973)
• Love Games (1975)
• Deborah's Dreams (A Victorian Fantasy) (1976)
• Love Scenes (1976)
• Noelle (and the twelve nights of Christmas) (1976)
• Leading Ladies (1981)
• Dreams (Richard Fegley) (1982)

References