Lolita by Nabokov, Vladimir - 1955

New York: Putnam & Sons, 1955. First American edition. About Fine/Near Fine. About Fine, a tight square copy, top-edge stained red. Previous owner's name on the front end paper. In a Near Fine jacket with slight sunning and wear to the spine and a line along the lower edge of the jacket from an old-style jacket protector.

This controversial novel is frequently on the list of top books from the past century. Originally released in France because American publishers were wary of such "obscene" material, Lolita tangles sexual taboo and violence with incredibly seductive prose. "Shocking is the reaction the author somehow manages to elicit from his readers: empathy. Readers always read, I think, out of a tremendous curiosity about other human beings, we're looking for another soul on the page, and that's what Nabokov has so fearlessly, so complexly, so gorgeously given us. In a lesser writer's hands, we could easily dismiss Mr. Humbert as a monster, but Nabokov denies us that all-too comfortable option. Even if we would never condone his vain and deadly infatuation, we understand it. We're complicit in his sins, and our complicity is seductive and terrifying" (Johnston). About Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.