Lolita by Nabokov, Vladimir - 1955

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1955. First American Edition. Hardcover. Very Good+/Good. Cloth-backed decorative paper over boards, lettering stamped in gilt and copper on spine, red topstain; dust jacket; 8vo; pp. 319. Spine tips a little wrinkled; boards lightly rubbed; ownership signature on front paste-down. Dust jacket a bit tanned and dust-smudged; some light wrinkling and a few small closed tears along the edges; small chips at extremities; waterstain on rear panel; good in mylar, not price-clipped.

Nabokov's infamous and controversial novel -- always ripe for debate, and (as is so often the case with controversy) pretty good for sales. First published by the rather shady Maurice Girodias of the Olympia Press (Paris), and riddled with typographical errors, it went on to be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the UK, where it was seized, then banned. (It also dealt the final blow to Nigel Nicolson's political career.) Its publication in America received no official goverment response, and in a matter of days the novel reached its third printing, becoming the first book since "Gone with the Wind" to sell 100,000 copies in three weeks. This is not a case of un-met hype -- the subject matter is difficult, and the writing is certainly compelling. "Your run-of-the-mill obscene masterwork -- Tropic of Cancer, say -- demands that you, enlightened reader, work your way past the sex and excrement to recognize how beautiful it is. But with Lolita, you must work past its beauty to recognize how shocking it is" (Stephen Metcalf, Slate Magazine). A near fine copy of an important and enduring work, one which Nabokov spoke of proudly. Amongst his comments: "I would say that of all my books Lolita has left me with the most pleasurable afterglow -- perhaps because it is the purest of all, the most abstract and carefully contrived. I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don't seem to name their daughters Lolita any more. I have heard of young female poodles being given that name since 1956, but of no human beings."