Tropic of Cancer
by Henry Miller
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Winona, Minnesota, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Grove Press 1961 hardcover, presumed first edition, with dust jacket not price clipped ($7.500. The cover and pages are clean, binding tight. Dust jacket shows edgewear, notably on corners and spine ends.
Synopsis
Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer is one of the most notoriously and frequently censored books in the history of American literature. In a combination of autobiography and fiction, the novel centers of Miller’s own life as a struggling writer in Paris in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Tropic of Cancer is written in the first person and lacks linear organization, two of Miller’s most favored techniques. Some chapters are narratives about Miller’s friends and workplaces, and others are stream-of-consciousness-style reflections, but all of the chapters touch on the sexual exploits and general low-life ruthlessness in which the author had engaged at the time. Tropic of Cancer was first published by Obelisk Press, a French publisher of soft pornography, in Paris in 1934. Shortly thereafter, the novel was banned in the US and later tried for charges of obscenity, a trial that challenged American pornography laws at the time. In 1961, the ban of Tropic of Cancer was lifted, and later that year, Grove Press published the first US edition of the novel, but only after the firm’s Barney Rosset offered Miller a sizeable advance and promised to defend the author in any future legal battles regarding the publication. Grove Press’s edition of Tropic of Cancer sold over 1 million copies by the end of 1961… and was the subject of about 60 lawsuits as well, one of which involved the American Civil Liberties Union. All of this hullabaloo makes one wonder what the reactions might have been if Miller had decided to go with the novel’s working title, Crazy Cock — which was, ironically, far more modest than the published version. Regardless, the novel’s 1970 film adaptation, directed by Joseph Strick, received an X rating (meaning no one 17 and under admitted). Today, Tropic of Cancer finds itself ranked 50th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and 59th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Blue Leaf Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 10227
- Title
- Tropic of Cancer
- Author
- Henry Miller
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover with tight binding
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Grove Press
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1961
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Blue Leaf Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Blue Leaf Books
Biblio member since 2012
Winona, Minnesota
About Blue Leaf Books
I have more than 10,000 books for sale, both on-line and as part of collections at local coffeeshop/bookstore locations. I have a special interest in "literary" titles, including modern fiction and small press poetry. I also have several rare editions. I combine bookselling with my writing activities. I am an active writer with several books in print. You may learn more about me from my webpage "Emilio DeGrazia The Writing Life."
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Frequently asked questions
How to identify a rare book
There are several important points to keep in mind when trying to determine if a book can be considered "rare". Read here to learn more.Learn how to determine if a book is rare
Collecting Children’s Literature
Children’s books are among some of the most popular themes to build a book collection on. Learn a bit more in our Brief History of Children’s Literature.
