| Description | This collection consists of the published works of Peter Farrer, notable crossdresser and crossdressing historian, in addition to his curated collection of over 650 unique and rare publications related to crossdressing, fetish, LGBTQ+, and transgender life in Britain from the Victorian period until the early 2000s. This includes: small-run magazines and zines aimed predominantly at cis male crossdressers, trans people (especially trans women and other transfeminine people) and their partners; erotic zines and publications (both recurring titles and single issues) related to crossdressing (particularly women's period clothing, petticoats, and corsetry), social transition, BDSM (particularly female domination), among other fetish content; catalogues for purchasing erotica; and miscellaneous magazines related to fashion, fetish, or crossdressing and trans life.
Recurring titles include: Cross Talk; Delectus; The Tranny Guide series; The Glad Rag; Emfem; Swish Publications journals; Matrix Publications Transvestite series; Our Way; Roses's Extra; TV Scene; Taffeta; Gay Times; Bizarre; Exotique; and others. Farrer also donated bound volumes of The Family Doctor, an 1880s domestic medical periodical, which he had borrowed from the military historian Sir Basil Liddell Hart for use in his research due to their frequent mention of both male and female crossdressing and discussions of the intersections between fashion and health, often in relation to corsetry and tight lacing. These volumes have now been returned to the Liddell Hart Collection of Costume (see reference LH), but contain bookmarks for Farrer's research and may be useful as a related resource.
Farrer's own published works include edited volumes of correspondence reproduced from periodicals and newspapers from Vistorian, Edwardian, and interwar periods, in addition to historical texts on individuals, general crossdressing histories, and histories of dress including stays, tight-lacing, and corsetry. His published works in our collection include but are not limited to: Farrer, P. (ed.), 1987: Men in Petticoats: A Selection of Letters from Victorian Newspapers (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 1992: In Female Disguise: An Anthology of English and American Short Stories and Literary Passages (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P., 1994: Borrowed Plumes: Letters from Edwardian Newspapers on Male Cross Dressing (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 1995: The Regime of The Stay-Lace: A Further Selection of Letters from Victorian Newspapers (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P., and Christine-Jane Wilson, 1997: My First Party Frock and Other Contributions to the Glad Rag 1985-1991 (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed)., 1997: Confidential Coorespondence on Crossdressing 1911-1915 (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 1998: Confidential Correspondece on Crossdressing 1916-1920 (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 1998: The Life of Maurice Pollack: 1885-1918 A Birmingham Actor (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 1999: Tight Lacing: A bibliography of articles and letters concerning Stays and Corsets for men and women: Part I 1828-1880 (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer, P. (ed.), 2000: Cross Dressng Between the Wars: Selections from London Life 1923-1933 (Garston: Karn Publications); Farrer., P (ed.), 2006: Cross Dressing Between the Wars: Selections from London Life Part II 1934-1941 (Garston: Karn Publications); and William Edward Beck, Farrer, P. (ed.), 2012: Happenings: The Story of Bessie (Garston: Karn Publications).
Please note that this collection includes explicit sexual content, in addition to historical language to refer to both trans people and crossdressers. This language use is contextual to the time and nature of the material it was created within, and has not been censored within catalogues or digital surrogates in order to preserve access for search functionality and research purposes. |
| AdminHistory | Peter Farrer was a born in Surrey on 20 May 1926 and lived in Liverpool for many years until his death on 10 February 2017. He was professionally a tax inspector, but well known for both his crossdressing life and his writings on the history of crossdressing and fashion. At the age of 14 Farrer began to cross-dress, and over the course of his life he collected women’s clothes, many of which were displayed by the National Museums of Liverpool in 2015 and 2017. He compiled his first edited volume Men in Petticoats in 1987, which detailed letters from Victorian newspapers. |
| CustodialHistory | Generously donated to LJMU Special Collections & Archives as a bequest from Peter Farrer in 2017 shortly following his death. Farrer also returned to us in 2016 his borrowed copies of The Family Doctor which were lended to him by his friend Sir Basil Liddell Hart, and now sit within the Liddell Hart Collection of Costume under reference LH. |