Tropic of Cancer by Miller, Henry - 1961

Grove Press, 1961. First American Edition, 1st Printing. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches; 280 x 145 mm), xxxiii, [1] ,318 pages, in half cloth and boards, facsimile signature to upper board, titles in silver to spine, in a printed dust jacket.

Henry Miller's outrageous novel about an American expat's sexual exploits in Paris during the 1920s and '30s. With an introduction by Karl Shapiro and a preface by Anaïs Nin.

Obelisk Press first published the book in Paris in 1934, but it was censored in the United States. Grove Press published it in 1961 and offered to defend any bookseller prosecuted for selling the book. As a result, Grove fought 60 separate court actions prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June 1964 that Tropic of Cancer was entitled to constitutional protection under the First Amendment. (S.E. Gontarski, Censorship and the Literacy Canon: The Rise and Fall of Grove Press, in CEA Critic, Fall 1992, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 47-58).

While many readers may (still) consider the book obscene, It's now widely recognized as an American classic.

CONDITION: Top stain faded, slight fraying of the spine tips, some staining to the fore edge and to the rear paste down. Internally clean and unmarked in an unclipped dust jacket ($7.50) that has some nicks and chips, along with scuffing and soiling (especially to the lower panel). The book is About Very Good, the dust jacket About Good only.