In 1953 Hugh Hefner launched Playboy magazine and produced an instant popular sensation. The first issue featured Marilyn Monroe and sold out in days, and through the 50s Playboy exposed Bettie Page, Jayne Mansfield, and Brigitte Bardot. But the magazine was also recognized for presenting in-depth interviews with prominent figures; serious literature by such writers as Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Kerouac; and for the art of illustrators like LeRoy Neiman, Shel Silverstein, and Alberto Vargas. These early issues are virtually all collector's items and hard to find today, which is what makes this digital collection so significant—every page of every issue of Playboy from the 1950s is stored in color on a DVD-ROM archive, complete with a powerful search engine for Mac and PC computers. Here too is a facsimile reproduction of the premier issue with Monroe, as well as a photo album compiled by Hefner himself that offers many behind-the-scenes views of Playboy's first decade.