TROPIC OF CANCER
by Miller, Henry
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Rockville, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
This is the first American edition, privately printed in this pirated version of 1000 copies by Jacob Brussel under the fictitious imprint of 'New York / Medusa.' An overrun of 200 to 500 unbound sheets were printed for later distribution, accounting for the nine variants which followed this first issue. The First Paperback Edition, also the Seventh Medusa Variant. Printed in Mexico, it precedes the authorized (Grove Press, 1961) American edition by more than two decades. References: Shifreen & Jackson A9Q. 1313761. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
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
- Second Story Books, ABAA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1313761
- Title
- TROPIC OF CANCER
- Author
- Miller, Henry
- Format/Binding
- Softcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Paperback Edition, Variant Binding
- Publisher
- Medvsa/Medusa
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Keywords
- Writing the Self, American Literature
Terms of Sale
Second Story Books, ABAA
About the Seller
Second Story Books, ABAA
About Second Story Books, ABAA
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Unbound
- A book or pamphlet which does not have a covering binding, sometimes by original design, sometimes used to describe a book in...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- 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....