Tropic of Cancer
by Miller, Henry
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- Condition
- Near Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
San Jose, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Grove Press, Inc, 1961. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Signed. Eighth printing. Inscribed (to friend and collector, Pierre Sicari), SIGNED, and dated by Henry Miller on the front endpaper. The volume is bumped on the spine ends. The unclipped dust jacket, protected in a sleeve, is rubbed on the front panel, and has edge wear to include nicks, abrasions, and short closed tears.
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
- Trilby & Co. Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 22022015
- Title
- Tropic of Cancer
- Author
- Miller, Henry
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Grove Press, Inc
- Date Published
- 1961
- Keywords
- signed
Terms of Sale
Trilby & Co. Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Trilby & Co. Books
Biblio member since 2011
San Jose, California
About Trilby & Co. Books
Trilby & Co. Books is located in Northern California. The company was founded years ago by a Shetland Sheepdog named Trilby. Trilby's message to her family was brief and direct - the sale of books would increase disposable income and improve the quality of provisions in her food dish. My name is McTavish (picture above). I am the current CEO of this company, and I approve of her message. Oh, by the way, my speciality is literature, with an emphasis on first editions and signed books.
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...
- 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....
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
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