Dictionary

Tijuana Bible en · NOUN

Etymology

From Tijuana, deriving from the incorrect belief that these were smuggled across the US-Mexico border, plus Bible, used ironically in this context due to the publications' pornographic nature. Attested since the 1950s.

Meanings

1. (slang) A kind of palm-sized pornographic comic book produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
   • 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:
   • 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:

Forms

Synonyms

bluesie · two-by-four · blue bible · Tillie and Mac book · eight-pager · Jo-Jo book