NABOKOV, Vladimir.

Lolita.

Paris: The Olympia Press, 1955.

$6,500.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-150702

Custom Clamshell Box

Hand made by the Harcourt Bindery. ~90 days

+$500

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"LIGHT OF MY LIFE, FIRE OF MY LOINS": FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF NABOKOV'S TOUR DE FORCE LOLITA

First edition of Nabokov's masterpiece, published in Paris by the Olympia Press in 1955. First issue with the price of 900 francs on the rear panel of each volume. Octavo, 2 volumes, original green wrappers. In very good condition. Provenance: David Gerstein (ownership signature to each front free endpaper). Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example.

Nabokov's controversial novel was rejected by American publishers, all of whom feared the repercussions of publishing such a "pornographic" work. It was finally accepted by the avant-garde Olympia Press in Paris and published in this two-volume edition. The first edition sold out quickly, but it was not warmly received abroad: alarmed by Graham Greene's assessment of Lolita as "one of the three best books of 1955," the English government pressured the French to ban the novel, and it was not published in America until 1958. Lolita is ranked fourth on the Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.