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Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
Nabokov, Vladimir (1899-1977) Lolita, two first editions.
Paris: The Olympia Press, 1955.
First edition, first issue with "Francs: 900" on the back wrappers of each, two octavo volumes, bound in original green publisher's wrappers (creasing and some sunning at spines, otherwise a fresh copy); together in a cardstock slipcase; 7 x 4 1/2 in.
[Together with] First edition in Russian, New York: Phaedra Publishers, 1967. Octavo; Juliar's state 'b' with three cancel leaves; bubble gum pink publisher's cloth, gilt-stamped spine; with the pictorial jacket featuring Nabokov's portrait on the rear panel, price intact (jacket rubbed; small area of staining to spine head); 8 1/4 x 5 3/8 in. Although other Russian translations of Lolita exist, this is the only Russian edition prepared by Nabokov himself, also including an exclusive post-script.
Nabokov's controversial masterpiece was rejected numerous times by many American and British publishers before it was accepted by Paris's Olympia Press in 1955. Although reviewed in the press as "the filthiest book I have ever read," and "sheer unrestrained pornography," Nabokov staunchly defended his work to the press, publishers, and his friends "I know Lolita is my best work so far," in a 1962 BBC interview, and "Lolita is a special favorite of mine. It was my most difficult book-- the book that treated of a theme which was so distant, so remote, from my own emotional life that it gave me a special pleasure to use my combinational talent to make it real." Today, the novel sits in a new light entirely, with unreliable Humbert Humbert judged by another generation of critics. The subtlety of Nabokov's portrayal, which many readers take in earnest, was always meant as a depiction of a deranged and broken predator, and the triumphant escape of a young survivor.
