Tropic of Cancer
by Miller, Henry
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Sacramento, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Grove Press, 1961. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Near-fine with slight shelf wear and a touch of spotting to dark blue topstain, otherwise bright and clean inside and out. In a near-fine dust jacket ($7.50 price intact) with very slight rubbing at the corners and a tiny smudge next to the price. A beautiful copy of this famous novel.
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.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Magus Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 008898
- Title
- Tropic of Cancer
- Author
- Miller, Henry
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- Publisher
- Grove Press
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1961
Terms of Sale
Magus Books
All books sold are guaranteed and may be returned if customer is not satisfied. Customer must notify Magus Books within seven days of receipt that they wish to return the book, and it must be returned in the same condition in which it was received.
About the Seller
Magus Books
Biblio member since 2005
Sacramento, California
About Magus Books
Independent bookstore specializing in John Fowles and other modern first editions.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
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