Title
Playboy: Entertainment for Men
Coverage
Chicago
Publisher
Playboy
Date
December 1953
Subject
Volume 1, number 1
Description
Hugh Hefner published the first issue of Playboy in December 1953 with financing that included a $1,000 loan from his mother. He didn’t include a cover date, not knowing whether there would be a second issue. The mission statement proudly proclaimed, “we are filling a publishing need only slightly less important than the one just taken by the Kinsey Report.” Circulation peaked at seven million in 1972.