The Well Of Loneliness

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1928. The highly controversial lesbian novel, in the uncommon dust jacket Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge black, others uncut. With the dust jacket. Extremities lightly rubbed, spine ends bruised, contents tanned with occasional foxing, overall an excellent copy in the uncommon dust jacket, soiled with some loss to extremities, neat tape repairs to verso. First edition, first impression, with "whip" on page 50. This famous and highly controversial lesbian novel went through only two small printings in Britain due to its controversial publication. It was the focus of vicious criticism from the editor of the Sunday Express, James Douglas, who vilified Hall's work as pornographic "moral poison". Government officials pressured Jonathan Cape into withdrawing the novel and when Cape slyly leased the rights to a Parisian press, who smuggled copies into Britain, those too were seized by the police and the publisher was prosecuted at trial. The Well of Loneliness "was subsequently banned in England … This led to the order of the chief magistrate, Sir Chartres Biron, that all copies be destroyed, and that literary merit presented no grounds for defence. Despite protests from literary figures such as Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, and John Buchan, Biron's judgement was upheld by a Court of Appeal" (ODNB). It was not republished until 1949. First editions in the dust jacket are distinctly uncommon.

New York: Covici-Friede, 1929. Hardcover. Fine/No Jacket. Cloth. Signed limited edition, #158 of 225.

Cape, 1928. 1st edition. Hardcover. Original black boards with gilt spine lettering, clean endpapers and pages, with just a few spots to the front text block, rough-cut fore-edge as issued, blue wash top. True first printing with 'whip' on page 50. The original cream jacket, lettered in black, is present, but in a worn state with considerable loss to the spine, tape marks and chips at the corners. A jacket is a rare accompaniment to the book, because there were only two small printings in Britain before its controversial subject-matter led the Government to press Cape to withdraw the book. Cape then leased the rights to the Paris house, Pegasus Press, whose edition of the book followed two months after and inevitably re-entered Britain. That led to the complete banning of the novel, which was not republished till 1949. Hall's novel, featuring Stephen Gordon, a lesbian who identifies herself - as Hall did - as an 'invert', is a landmark work of gay fiction.

New York: Covici Friede, 1929. The Victory Edition. Very Good. Signed limited edition. Copy 204 of 225 numbered copies of The Victory Edition, signed by Radclyffe Hall and with a specially designed title page by S. A. Jacobs. Two volumes bound in publisher's blue paper over beige cloth covered boards, stamped in silver, lacking the slipcase. Very Good. Covers scuffed and with several small stains, spines slightly darkened. Small stain to front free endpapers, pages sporadically foxed. Hall's book faced a wave of suppression as the plot follows the life of a lesbian, openly portraying her "sexual inversion" as natural during a time when homosexuality was not openly discussed. Evidence of this struggle can be seen here, as this edition was dubbed "The Victory Edition" on account a victory won in court over censorship in the United States.

London: Jonathan Cape, 1928. [Modern literature] FIRST EDITION, First and second issues. Demy octavos (23 x 17cm), pp.512 each. Publisher's black cloth lettered in gilt to back-strip, top edge coloured black. The first issue features the misprint 'whip' for 'whips' on p.50, line 13. Used copies with associated wear, some toning/spotting etc, later issue volume has a bookplate and old repair to inside joints, no significant defects. The first openly lesbian novel, this was subject to a trial of indecency in August 1928 which led to its suppression.

New York: Covici-Friede, 1929. First Limited Edition. hardcover. Virtually no rubbing of the silver on the spine, somewhat unusual for this title, but some small, light spotting to the spine of one volume. About Fine in a Near Fine slipcase with a partial split at the top edge, uncommon in this condition. The Victory Edition consisting of two large octavo volumes (6-1/4" x 9-3/4") bound in silver-stamped yellow cloth and blue boards printed on Van Gelder handmade paper. Copy #34 of only 225 copies SIGNED by the author. A pioneering book dealing with lesbianism. THE WELL OF LONELINESS provided an open treatment of lesbianism at a time when homosexuality could not be discussed in English books or in the English press. In 1920, the House of Lords declined to amend the criminal laws of England to include lesbians because the Lords would not acknowledge that they even existed. Following its 1928 publication in England, the book was ordered withdrawn from sale by the Secretary of the Home Office. Early in 1929 in New York, Charles Sumner, Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, acting under a warrant, raided the office of the publisher and removed 865 copies remaining from the sixth edition, then raided Macy's(!) book department. This edition contains a summary of the court proceedings by defense attorney Morris Ernst and a one-paragraph Commentary by Havelock Ellis, author of the (also) suppressed 1897 STUDIES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX, who notes that "apart from its fine qualities as a novel by a writer of accomplished art . . . it is the first English novel which presents, in completely faithful and uncompromising form, one particular aspect of sexual life as it exists among us today." Among the many who protested the suppression of the novel were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, George Bernard Shaw, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Rudyard Kipling, and Mrs. Ralph Pulitzer. The book remained contraband in England until 1959.

Covici Friede, 1928. Book. Fine. Cloth in Box. First American. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Beautiful Fine copy in Box.First America.Limited Edition.1/475 copies in Orange Boards and Purple Spine.Beautiful Copy of this Lesbian Classic..

Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1988. This is a 1998 edition.. Hardcover Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine.

Paris: Privately Printed, 1928 511 numbered pp +1; HB. Privately printed. Pages: clean, ivory, tight, b.e./f.e. deckled; a.e. tanned, front hinge cracked, t.e. dusty, lt foxing PO info inked ffep. Cover: gold/black patterned boards, black silk backstrip, dull gilt titles spine; substantial shelfwear, extremities well worn, with crnrs/edges worn through, crnrs tattered, boards loose, lt soil. The best known work by Hall, this book is a relatively subtle request for understanding and tolerance of lesbianism. Despite its lack of explicitness, a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women", and all British copies were seized. This issue, in English, was printed in France.

1993-03-08. New. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

Garden City:: Sun Dial Press,, 1928. Hard Cover. Book Condition: . First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 8vo, Navy cloth with Hall's signature embossed on the front board in red, red lettering on the spine., 512pp. Top page edges red. Commentary by Havelock Ellis. One of the very first novels dealing with lesbianism. This is the first edition after the printing of 1927 which was according to the inside flap of the dust wrapper - "...printed from the plates of the original edition." A very good copy with a very small chip to upper spine, otherwise a tight and very clean book. Small, unobtrusive remnants of former bookplate at the very top of the front pastedown. The original dustwrapper has a chip missing from the upper spine and shows moderate wear and soiling. A good + copy in the original jacket of Radclyffe's intimate and poignant novel.. Frist American Trade Edition. Very Good/Good. 8vo..

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2015-07-29. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1990-02-04. New. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

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2014-02-28. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1976-06-01. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

2012-07-18. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1992-09-01. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1993-03-08. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1979-06-01. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

1981-08-09. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1936. Reprint . Hardcover. Very Good/Good. Turquoise Cloth Printed In Red. Wear With A Few Points Of Fraying At Corners; Bookplate Of Marion Dodge And Her Ownership Signature, And With A Fine 1926 Studio Portrait Of Her, In The Studio Card Frame. Dj Worn, Small Chips, Tears, Spine Faded But Lettering Clear, Dj States "Third 100,000" And Book States 13Th Printing, 1936. Dodge Was Later A Librarian At Ucla, And Wife Of Artist Sam Hyde Harris.

VIRAGO PRESS LTD, 1982-01-01. New Ed. Paperback. Used:Good.

White Press. PAPERBACK. 1473317622 Special order direct from the distributor . New.

SUN DIAL PRESS, 1928. hard cover no dj. very good no dj.

Sun Dial. Hardcover. 1928 red boards very solid and tight . Very Good. 1928.

Blue Ribbon, 1928. Nice clean copy with faded spine.. Tan Cloth. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

2016-06-03. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

2014-07-09. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

2008-01-01. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

The Sun Dial Press, 1928. Hard Cover - VG/Good - Other than chipping to dust jacket book is clean and tight - 403 pages.. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good.

Quality Paperback Book Club, 1956. Paperback. Very Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name. The spine remains undamaged. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.

Anchor. PAPERBACK. 0385416091 Like New Condition. . Fine.

Avon Books. MASS MARKET PAPERBACK. 0380542471 Like New Condition. . Fine.

QPB. PAPERBACK. 0965072290 Like New Condition. . Fine.

Buccaneer Books. Hardcover. 0899669484 Like New Condition. . Fine.

Random House UK. PAPERBACK. 1784870323 Like New Condition. . Fine.

New York: Blue Ribbon Books. Very Good in Very Good- dust jacket. 1938. Twenty-Fifth Printing. Hardcover. "The Well of Loneliness presents the life story of Stephen Gordon, only child of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon, who ardently desired a son in her place." Ships same or next business day. Bookplate of noted collector, Rolland Comstock, on paste-down endpaper. Spine is skewed and loose, moderate edge wear, faint creases on spine, light discoloration on head edges of boards and on both boards near spine, tanning on endpapers, pages are lightly tanned but clean. Dust jacket protected in archival plastic cover. DJ has moderate edge and shelf wear, 1-inch and 1/2-inch tears on spine head, 1-inch and 1/4-inch tears on spine tail, tiny chips on corners, lightly tanned on spine, blue mark on back cover. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 506 pages .

1990-02-04. Good. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. May be ex-library. Shipping & Handling by region. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!

New York: Sun Dial Press, 1928. Commentary by Havelock Ellis, fair copy only of first USA edition published by Sun Dial Press, 1928, black cloth with wear and rubbing, spine ends and corners rubbed/frayed, spine creased with a 4-inch split to one side, dust to edges, name stamp to front pastedown, ink name to front free endpaper with number, title page has two ink marks which have been worsened by an unsuccessful attempt to erase them, binding shaken, three cut-out book reviews inserted at the back. Extra postage required outside Europe.. First Thus. Hardcover. Acceptable.

Anchor, 1990. Paperback. New. 8 x 5.2 cm.

FRANCE: Pegasus Press, 1929. ENGLISH TEXT. Book is in very good condition with minor signs of wear and/or age. DW has very little loss but is a bit spotted and dust marked. . New & Cheaper Edition. Hardback. VG/G++ DW.

Quality Paperback Club, 1993 Trade Paperback. New/No DJ Issued. 21 cm..

Paris: The Pegasus Press, 1938. 413pp. Or gray boards with cloth spine. Slight edge wear, small bumps to corners. Immediately banned on its original issue in 1928 it has since become a classic. THis a nice fairly early Paris reprint.. Reprint. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo.

London England: The Falcon Press, 1949. Hardback. Foxing to end inside covers. Wear and tear to edges of D/J. Couple of small pieces of D/J. missing. The Well of Loneliness is perhaps her best-known work and will be remembered for the literary storm it caused in the 1930s.491 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions etc.). Reprint. Cloth. Very Good/Poor. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Hadrback.

Falcon. Used - Good. Ships from the UK. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Your purchase also supports literacy charities.