For sale is a PLAYBOY MAGAZINE back issue in fair condition with significant wear but still collectible.
By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner, a University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy planned out the elements of his own magazine that he would call Stag Party. However, the publisher of an unrelated men’s adventure magazine, Stag, informed Hefner and that they would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner changed the magazine name to Playboy. The first issue, published in December 1953, was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used originally was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy. The first issue sold for 50 cents a copy with a circulation of about 50,000 copies, quickly sold out in a few out in weeks. In 2002, a first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000.
