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Tropic of Cancer

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Tropic of Cancer

by Miller, Henry

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Near Fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Garrison, New York, United States
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£148.15
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About This Item

Secaucus: Castle Books. DJ in archival cover price clipped. First US edition, stated first printing. No DJ. . Near Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 1961.

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.

Read More: Identifying first editions of Tropic of Cancer

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Details

Bookseller
J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
011126
Title
Tropic of Cancer
Author
Miller, Henry
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Near Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
1st Edition
Publisher
Castle Books
Place of Publication
Secaucus
Date Published
1961

Terms of Sale

J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints

Payment can be made by credit card, checks made out to J Mercurio Books, or PayPal. Shipment usually occurs within two business days, unless customer requests that we hold or ship on a different day. If a book or set is oversized, we may contact the customer for additional shipping to ensure proper transport.

About the Seller

J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2019
Garrison, New York

About J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints

We are a 50 year old, third generation antiquarian bookshop nestled in the bucolic Hudson Highlands of New York's historic Hudson Valley, less than a mile from a transverse of the Appalachian Trail. While we have strong first edition literature and poetry collections, we specialize in New York, history, and Americana. We are a proud member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA).

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Price Clipped
When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
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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