Tijuana Bible

plural Tijuana Bibles · alternative Tijuana bible

1. slangA kind of palm-sized pornographic comic book produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.

   It was a Tijuana bible. They sold them in the newspaper kiosk in the Jardin Obregon, under the counter.

   1984, Ernest Brawley, The Alamo Tree, page 209

   2 more examples

   MR BARNES. I would say that the most prevalent [pornographic literature] would be the type known to us, or in the language of the people who deal in it, ... the Tijuana Bible, a small [cartoon] booklet about 2 by 3 inches, that is very lewd and very obscene in its character. ... [I]t [shows all types of sexual perversions].

   1955, Mr. Bobo, Mr. Barnes, US Senate, Hearing Before the Subcommitee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, page 374

   “You acquainted with the Tijuana Bibles?” ¶ “I've heard a lot goes on in those border towns but not much that calls for religious reference works.” ¶ “These bibles they don't use, they make, and fast as they come off the presses they go over the border.”

   1972, Bernard Wolfe, Memoirs of a not altogether shy pornographer, page 18

   Synonyms: blue bible, bluesie, eight-pager, Jo-Jo book, Tillie and Mac book, two-by-four

plural Tijuana bibles

1. alternativeAlternative form of Tijuana Bible.