Lolita. by NABOKOV, Vladimir - 1959

London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,, 1959. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins First UK edition, first impression, in excellent condition. Lolita was first published by the Olympia Press in Paris in 1955 after Nabokov was unable to find an American publisher brave enough to accept the work. Customs officials in the UK were quickly instructed to seize copies of the book at the border, and a year later it was also banned in France. It topped best-seller lists upon its eventual publication in America in 1958 and this UK edition followed a year later. Kingsley Amis remarked on the almost immediate cult status of the novel in the UK: "few books published in this country since the King James Bible can have set up more eager expectation than Lolita, nor, on the other hand, can any work have been much better known in advance to its potential audience". Octavo. Original black boards, spine lettered in gilt, top edge pink. With dust jacket by Eric Ayres. Light foxing to edges and initial leaves, else clean; jacket unclipped, notably bright, a little rubbing to the spine: a fine copy in like jacket. Juliar A28.3. Kingsley Amis, The Spectator, 6 Nov. 1959.