EDNOTE. There was a British edition of LOLITA that omitted the John Ray, Jr. preface--apparently under the misapprehension it was  not part of the novel.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: speaking of prefaces

I think it was Alfred Appel who also comented on the name John Ray, Jr. calling attention to the Jr. also present in the initials JR.
Can anyone explain why there is an edition of "Lolita" with a preface by Peter Quennell ( Collins Collector´s Choice, Ed. Collins, London, 1979 ) that does not include the presentation written by JR.Jr.   Would the Collins Ed. have understood JR.Jr to be a real MD writing a preface and cut him off the book?
Jansy 
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 1:55 PM
Subject: Fw: speaking of prefaces

EDNOTE.
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 7:49 AM
Subject: speaking of prefaces

To the List,

I have often wondered about the name John Rae, Jr (preface Lolita). I sometimes came across the name John Rae linked to Arctic exploration, but "Jr" was never there.

I am reading Ken McGoogan's Fatal Passage: the Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot and it turns out that John Rae was the son of "John Rae, Sr," and so, though never referred to that way, he really was  John Rae, Jr.

Other names linked to Arctic exploration occasionally turn up in Nabokov's work (Amundsen in Ada, for example) and I think I that there is a play about Scott? or am I dreaming?

Carolyn 
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EDNOTE. But LO's presenter is John RAY, Jr. PhD,  not John
RAE. The Scott play is "The Pole" available in English translated by DN with a very nice preface. The play was performed in Berlin a few years back.