Vladimir Nabokov Books

Evanston: Northwestern, 1970. Hardcover First edition An interesting compilation for his 70th birthday. As well as serious essays by established VN critics, some wonderful short pieces by Stanley Elkin, John Updike, Richard Howard (poem), Anthony Burgess (poem), Irwin Shaw, J. Barth, Herbert Gold, etc., and a bxw photo insert. Traces of dust but Near Fine, in a rubbed (no chips or tears) but Near Fine dust jacket. (more information)

Offered by Alexander Rare Books (United States)

Athens: Georgia, 1983. Hardcover First edition. A scholarly work covering the eight novels in English. Fine in Fine DJ. (more information)

Offered by Alexander Rare Books (United States)

Athens: Georgia, 1983. Hardcover First edition. A scholarly work covering the eight novels in English. Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket. (more information)

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Ardis, 1974. Hardcover Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1974. Cloth. 196 pp. First edition, first printing. Author's first book, published simultaneously in paper; this is the hardcover issue fine in a very near fine lightly rubbed, bright dust jacket. (more information)

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Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938. Hardcover First edition, first issue (Juliar A14.2 variant a). The first of his novels to be published in the US, from a translation, "insufficiently revised by me" is how he put it, first published as CAMERA OBSCURA in 1936, in Great Britain. In the preferred green buckram cloth (taking precedence over the orange and the brown issues). Moderate wear to the edges, name in ink on back fep; dust jacket is chipped and creased along the edges with an approx. 1" piece missing at the foot. - not affecting lettering. The front panel and spine are still quite bright, lettering and flaps complete, but the back flap has mostly separated. Good or better in like dust jacket. An acceptable copy in the scarce first issue binding. (more information)

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London: Editions Poetry , 1945. Hardcover First UK edition (Juliar A21.2a) Published four years after the US edition in a much smaller format by a small press who according to THE OXFORD COMPANION had a bi-monthly which became the leading poetry magazine of the 1940s (Dylan Thomas,and editor M.J Tambimuttu among others founded it). The press published poetry by Kathleen Raine, David Gascoyne, Lawrence Durrell among others. The purple cloth has faded, but the gilt lettering is miraculously still bright; there is a crease across the boards, and a stamp (a star) on the ffep. The dust jacket is worn and chipped with a 5/8" closed tear; price-clipped with $3.00 stamped on the top flap. Still a delicate, pretty book, seldom found in this nice a condition. Very Good in Very Good (Price-Clipped) DJ. (more information)

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London: Editions Poetry, 1947. Hardcover First UK edition (Julair A22.2b) Published three years after the US edition under war time restrictions, this copy is as usual age-toned. In the second issue dust jacket with the 8/6 price sticker covering the original price (Juliar's update notes that Nabokov himself had both jackets with "not for sale/proof" stickers). A much nicer than usual copy with only light wear and foxing. A22.2b (more information)

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New York: Harper & Row, 1979. Hardcover First edition Fine in Fine DJ Edited, Annotated and with an Introductory Essay by Simon Karlinsky. (more information)

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New York: New Directions, 1959. Hardcover New Edition (Juliar A21.3). The first novel Nabokov wrote in English; this is the second printing; with an introduction by Conrad Brenner explaining why Nabokov was "not the author of only one book (Lolita) and only one masterpiece". A worn copy, with some underlining in ink. Very Good + in Edgeworn/Chipped DJ. (more information)

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New York: Phaedra, 1966. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A19.1d). Juliar's variant d: with red endpapers and back flap lacking the third line "New York 17, N. Y." . An attractive copy of this play; light shelfwear in a bright dust jacket. Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket. (more information)

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New York: Phaedra, 1965. Hardcover First edition Review copy in limp covers with the hardcover jacket of the first edition in English. Phaedra was a small publisher happy to take works that VN's regular publisher at the time Putnam would not take. THE EYE was published in PLAYBOY prior to this edition. Top edge dusty, the dust jacket lightly worn (a chip off the top edge of the spine area) where it overhangs, spine-darkened and remains of an old sticker. Still a scarce format of this short novel translated by the author and his son Dimitri from the Russian. E12.1 (more information)

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New York: Knopf, 1995. First edition Near Fine in Wraps An uncorrected proof copy in light tan wraps. Sixty-five stories, thirteen published for the first time in English. This copy has a lightly creased spine (very near fine for a 650 page proof), and a faint crease on the front cover, but very clean and tight. (more information)

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New York: Phaedra, 1966. Hardcover First edition (Julair A19.1a). Juliar's variant a (based on the Library of Congress deposit copies) of five variants of this play originally published in Paris in Russian in 1938. It was first performed (in Russian) in 1968. As do all the copies of this variant, three of the four signatures are printed on acidic paper. A bit of wear at the crown and tail of the blue cloth and some rubbing along the front edge of the dust jacket, otherwise a tight clean copy. A lovely copy of the most desirable issue. Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket. (more information)

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Garden City: Doubleday, 1958. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A32.1) Very Good in Very Good DJ Thirteen of the master's finest stories, four of which had previously appeared in The New Yorker. The black cloth has lost its gloss along the top edge and upper part of the spine; whether or not it is water damage, neither paper nor the dust jacket seems to have been affected. The end paper show some offsetting, but the interior is bright and clean. The dust jacket is worn, with a few short tears. (more information)

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New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. First edition An uncorrected proof in plain blue printed wrappers of thirteen stories "translated by Dmitri Nabokov with the collaboration of the author". The last of his four major collections of stories from the Russian published in the U.S. A stain along the top third of the spine and a small portion of the front, a small crease at the tail of the spine. Otherwise a tight clean copy. (more information)

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New York: Bollingen Foundation/Pantheon Books, 1964. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A37.1b) Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket Four volumes: 345, 547, 540 & 422 pages, including an index and 1837 reproduced facsimile of the original Russian edition. An attractively produced set. About Fine copies, lacking the slip-case. Spine-darkened very lightly worn dust jackets, the baby blue cloth covers are unworn. Volume 3 has a small chocolate colored stain on the bottom edge, volume 4 an even smaller similar spot on the cover. All four volumes have a sticker with 1964 covering the original $18.50 price per volume. A finer set (an adventure with a candy bar, not withstanding) would be hard to come by. For nearly a decade VN worked on this commentary and translation: when he began he was a mostly unknown Cornell professor, by the time it was published he was one of the world's most famous writers with LOLITA , the recently published PALE FIRE, and numerous translations of his work from the Russian establishing his reputation. A major event in literary circles when published, and controversial; Edmund Wilson's attack would cause the break of one of the great literary friendships of the century. . (more information)

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London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966. Hardcover First UK edition (Juliar A15.4) Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket The first British edition of the second translation from the Russian by the author (the first published in 1937). The U.S. edition was published two months earlier; this is the least common of the two, part of the uniform series published by Lord Weidenfeld from LOLITA on. A lovely copy crisp and clean (tiny stain on foreedge), in a very near Fine dark brown (almost black) cloth cover and a Near Fine jacket with light wear at the tips and spine edges. (more information)

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London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973. Hardcover First UK edition (Juliar A42.2) Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket The British edition is less common than the US, it is reproduced from the US printing. A beautiful copy of this short novel. Price-clipped, otherwise fine. (more information)

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New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A8.2) The first edition in English of the author's first novel, translated by Michael Glenny in collaboration with the author. Based on his first lover Valentina Shulgin who he first met in the Summer of 1915; according to his biographer Boyd, the Tamara of Speak, Memory. Very close to fine: the dust jacket spine is lightly faded, with a tiny amount of wear at the crown. (more information)

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London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967. Hardcover (Julair A26.6) Very Good+ in Near Fine DJ The first revised UK edition (published two months after the US), and much less common. The blue cloth has some white spotting, the dust jacket is close to fine with a bit of wear at the tips. (more information)

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New York: Putnam, 1986. Hardcover First edition The author's son Dmitri translated "the last work of fiction (he) wrote in his native Russian", and provides a long afterward about this precursor to LOLITA. A lovely copy with a tiny bump on the bottom edge, otherwise perfect. Fine in Fine DJ. (more information)

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New York: Viking Press, 1968. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A39.1) A volume similar to the Viking Portables with selections from DESPAIR, INVITATION TO A BEHEADING, THE GIFT and SPEAK, MEMORY and the complete PNIN, as well as essays, stories and poems. 536 pages, with a critical introduction by Page Stegner, who would write the first full critical work on Nabokov. Very Good in Very Good DJ. (more information)

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San Diego: HBJ, 1989. First edition An uncorrected proof copy in blue printed wrappers , with two printed pages inserted, one with a Kirkus quote, the other with corrections to the proof. Close to fine. (more information)

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San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1984. First edition Near Fine in Wraps An uncorrected proof in plain blue printed wrappers, of these four plays and two essays by VN. With an introduction by his son and translator Dmitri Nabokov. (more information)

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New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A46.1) The fourth of five of his books to be nominated for a National Book Award - all failing to win. A tight, clean copy, and very close to fine. (more information)

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London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969. Hardcover First UK edition Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket The first British edition with red cloth binding and green jacket. This is a review copy with review slip laid in. Quite scarce. In just about fine condition with light edge wear only to the jacket. A40.2 (more information)

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New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston , 1947. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A24.1) Very Good + in Very Good + DJ The last of his "political" novels, conceived as Solus Rex. This copy has lightly rubbed edges and a bookplate on the ffep; the dust jacket shows some wear at the head and tail and light chips at the top tips, the back panel is lightly soiled. (more information)

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New York: Phaedra, 1966. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A38.1b). A collection of four stories, including the classic "The Vane Sisters". There were three variants, this copy with white end papers, and all the paper the same. Phaedra was a small publisher happy to take works that VN's regular publisher at the time Putnam would not take. A touch of dust, otherwise a very fine copy in a bright dust jacket. (more information)

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Norfolk, CT: New Directions, 1944. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A22.1a). The first issue in the Alvin Lustig cover with a hand holding a pen; with five titles listed on verso of the half-title. The front endpapers are offset, a name and contemporary date written in ink on the ffep; the dust jacket has chips at the edges, and is price-clipped, but still attractive. A bookstore sticker (the great Hampshire Bookshop in Northhampton, MA). Neither issue is particularly common. Near Fine in Very Good DJ. (more information)

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New York: Putnam, 1966. Hardcover First edition (Juliar A15.3) The first U.S. publication in a new translation by the author, which was originally published in the UK in 1937, with a much different translation by the author. A very near fine copy, in a lovely example of the first issue dust jacket, with no chips or tears and only lightly age-toned. (more information)

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