Subject
Olympia Press Lolita (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Maurice Couturier <couturier@unice.fr>
I purchased the 2-volume reprint of Lolita at the Shakespeare & Co. of all
places about three years ago. I don't know if we are all talking about the
same reprint. It looks like a paperback edition but by French standards it
is not since the first volume contains 12 signatures (or cahiers) and the
second 14. On the front cover, there is a Manessier type of butterfly; on
the back cover, a long text about the publishing history of the novel, with
reference to the two French bans (of which more anon as I have been
abundantly working on censorship lately), and also the following
statementl: "This edition is the original, complete and unexpurgated Paris
edition. It is the only one allowed to be sold in countries other than the
U.S.A., U.K., and Commonwealth." US. $0.75, N.F. 3,75.
It is presented, at the back of the title page, as the fourth printing
(September 1959). In Patrick J. Kearney's book, The Paris Olympia Press
(London: Black Spring Press, 1987), it is not clear whether this is a new
edition or simply a reprint. Kearney claims this N066 of the Traveller's
Companion Series was printed in November, not in September; even the price
is wrong: 2400 francs, instead of 3.75 nouveaux francs The previous
reprint of April 1959, after the second ban was canceled, is mentioned by
Kearney, but not the first one (November 1958, that is after the first ban
was canceled).
As someone has suggested, these copies probably surfaced after Girodias's
death in 1990.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Universite de Nice - Sophia Antipolis
U.F.R. Lettres et Sciences Humaines
C.R.E.L.A.
Maurice Couturier
phone : (33) 93.37.53.46
email : couturier@unice.fr
I purchased the 2-volume reprint of Lolita at the Shakespeare & Co. of all
places about three years ago. I don't know if we are all talking about the
same reprint. It looks like a paperback edition but by French standards it
is not since the first volume contains 12 signatures (or cahiers) and the
second 14. On the front cover, there is a Manessier type of butterfly; on
the back cover, a long text about the publishing history of the novel, with
reference to the two French bans (of which more anon as I have been
abundantly working on censorship lately), and also the following
statementl: "This edition is the original, complete and unexpurgated Paris
edition. It is the only one allowed to be sold in countries other than the
U.S.A., U.K., and Commonwealth." US. $0.75, N.F. 3,75.
It is presented, at the back of the title page, as the fourth printing
(September 1959). In Patrick J. Kearney's book, The Paris Olympia Press
(London: Black Spring Press, 1987), it is not clear whether this is a new
edition or simply a reprint. Kearney claims this N066 of the Traveller's
Companion Series was printed in November, not in September; even the price
is wrong: 2400 francs, instead of 3.75 nouveaux francs The previous
reprint of April 1959, after the second ban was canceled, is mentioned by
Kearney, but not the first one (November 1958, that is after the first ban
was canceled).
As someone has suggested, these copies probably surfaced after Girodias's
death in 1990.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Universite de Nice - Sophia Antipolis
U.F.R. Lettres et Sciences Humaines
C.R.E.L.A.
Maurice Couturier
phone : (33) 93.37.53.46
email : couturier@unice.fr