As I have often mentioned before, the ephemera is the biggest challenge in trying to complete a collection. I am always delighted to find a catalogue. This one used to be quite common. I am always happy to be offered any similar items.
Below is a variant of the 1956 catalogue, with a link to my original listing. Same item but a different colour banner, orange instead of purple.
Having suffered a stroke last year, I was forced to consider what would happen to my collection should I die. A serious enough issue, given tales of shark like dealers descending on the recently bereaved and picking off the prized items from remaining partners who have no idea of what to do with the books, and even less idea of the potential value.
This is especially true of erotica as there is an understandable embarrassment, attached to such material, especially illustrated books, and I have heard of some such material being destroyed to avoid having to deal with it, and though this is perhaps the best disposal for modern pornography, this is less of a problem with my Paris Olympia Press collection as they are 99% without illustrations.
Having explored possible methods of disposal, I had been in negotiation with Bonhams of London with a view to the collection going to auction this June, when a combination of my own health issues and an extended family crisis prevented me from cataloguing the books, a task that Bonhams offered to cover, but I really wanted to complete myself.
So i find myself delaying the selling of the collection, and almost immediately other items turn up, within the past month or so, I have obtained a catalogue that I do not have a copy of, one of the missing Teaser magazines and a much improved copy of “The Castle of the end of Love”, a very hard to find Ophelia Press title.
I must admit to a sense of relief at still having the collection, as after so many decades of collecting the loss would be hard to take. It my be that I will reconsider next year, which gives me more time to locate the few missing items that would allow me to complete. Which also means that I will continue with this site, given that its sworn purpose is to assist with completing my Paris Olympia collection, something that is easy to forget, given that the vast majority of the books that I list are nothing to do with the Olympia Press at all.
So to give me a reason to carry on, please remember to look out for Paris Olympia material for me. And if you have any erotica (not photographic pornography please) that you want rid of then complete a contact form and I may be able to assist.
Below is an image of my Paris Olympia Press collection as of today. Coming soon recent finds and some very rare illustrated erotica.
With a number of new items coming into the collection, it is time to list the rest of my Olympia Press duplicates, and remind everyone of all the others already listed, Over the 4 month lifetime of this blog it has become fairly obvious that there is little interest in the Olympia Press titles, primarily I suspect because they lack illustrations, however given that the stated purpose of the site is to assist in completing my collection of Paris Olympia Press titles, I shall get back on task occasionally. And so to that end I am featuring a very short list of Paris Ophelia Press imprints, you will sometimes see these titles listed by dealers as competitors to the Paris Olympia Press, when they are in fact a sub series.Sometimes noted as the poor relative of the Traveller’s Companion Series, if they have a common theme, it is that flagellation features strongly in nearly all in this series, my own collection of these titles is complete, barring the elusive “Springtime in Paris” linked at the bottom of this page.
NOTE: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAIL COURTESY OF Patrick Kearney . The Paris Olympia Press. Liverpool University Press 2007. Index numbers, Example (5.3.1) are description locations within the publication.
As always these titles are available to trade against my Paris Olympia press wants.
COUNT | PALMIRO VICARION | LUST | OPHELIA PRESS Collation: 224 pp. 1 – LUST 148. 17.3 x 10.8 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] LUST, reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | The Ophelia Press Books are published by | The Olympia Press, 7 rue St. Séverin, Paris 5. | Copyright by Olympia Press, 1959. pp. 7-218, text. p. [219] Printed May 1959 by S.I.P., Montreuil, France | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1959 . pp. [220-224] blank.
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] COUNT | PALMIRO VICARION | LUST | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESS.
[Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] COUNT | PALMIRO | VICARION [-] LUST [-] OPHELIA | PRESS.
[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] [price in bold] FRS. 18 | NOT TO BE SOLD IN | THE U.K. OR U.S.A. Notes: (1) A photo-offset reproduction of the first printing, and identical in all respects to it except for the printed price increase on the back wrapper and the visibly darker and inferior quality of the printing. It is dated c.1965 because it is priced the same as titles in the series known to be printed in 1965 (see 6.19.3, 6.20.2). No border on title page.
5 copies 4 Very Good 1 Good.
6.10.1 INIQUITY Robert Desmond [Robert Desmond Thompson]
[c1957?] ROBERT DESMOND | INIQUITY | OPHELIA PRESS | PARIS Collation: 224 pp. No signatures, but [1-14]8. 17.5 x 110.0 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] INIQUITY, reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | All rights reserved by Ophelia Press. pp. 7-221, text. pp. [222] blank. p. [223] « L’IMPRIMERIE DE LA SEINE » | 5, RUE GIT-LE-COEUR -PARIS VIe. p. [224] blank.
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] ROBERT DESMOND | INIQUITY | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESS.
[Spine; the author and imprint lettered horizontally across head and foot and title lettered vertically up spine:] ROBERT | DESMOND [-] INIQUITY [-] OPHELIA | PRESS.
[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] FRS. 1.200 | NOT TO BE SOLD IN | THE U.S.A. OR U.K.
Notes: (1) The printer of this edition would seem to have been Bronislaw Kaminsky, aka Bruno Durocher (1919-1996) who founded Éditions Caractères in 1950 and had print shops at 5 rue Gît-le-Coeur, rue de la Harpe and rue Hautefeuille. During the mid- to late 50s and early 60s a large number of English-language pornographic novels under various imprints unrelated to the Olympia Press emanated from these addresses, and as will be seen from the Introduction, The Castle of the End of Love, the chronologically unofficial first Ophelia Press volume, was printed by Durocher.
1 Copy in only fair condition (rare in this edition)
6.10.2 INIQUITY Robert Desmond [Robert Desmond Thompson]
[c.1965?] Binding: [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:]
FRS. 18 | NOT TO BE SOLD IN | THE U.K. OF U.S.A. Notes: A photo-offset reproduction of the first printing, and identical in all respects to it except for the printed price increase on the back wrapper and the visibly darker and inferior quality of the printing. It is dated c.1965
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] MILES UNDERWOOD | UNDER | THE | BIRCH | The Story | of an | English Governess | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESS.
[Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] MILES | UNDERWOOD [-] UNDER THE BIRCH [-] OPHELIA | PRESS.
[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 18
One Copy Very Good
6.4.2 THE SHE-DEVILS Peter Lewys [Pierre Louÿs], 1965
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] PETER LEWYS | THE | SHE-DEVILS | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESS.
[Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] PETER | LEWYS [-] THE SHE-DEVILS [-] OPHELIA | PRESS.
[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 18.
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] ANGELA PEARSON | WHIPS | INCORPORATED | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESS.
[Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] ANGELA | PEARSON [-] WHIPS INCORPORATED [-] OPHELIA | PRESS.
[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 18.
2 Copies 1FINE 1 Very Good
Any questions please complete a Contact Form from the drop-down menu HOME PAGE.
Another scarce and fragile item in the ephemera department, it is noticeable that this is a much more meagre offering than some of the quite elaborate and lavishly presented Paris Olympia catalogues, ironically this very simple fact makes it less likely to have survived, so a very welcome addition to the collection. Presented here in full because as part of the collection it is not available to trade or for sale, but I will copy a PDF version on request.
Any questions? please ask, just leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you.
The bibliographical description is courtesy of Patrick Kearney, The Paris Olympia Press, The Liverpool University Press 2007. The index number is the actual location of the description in the bibliography.
14.9.1 1959. A List of Ophelia Press Titles and Others.
18.5 x 9.6 cm. 16 pp. incl. plain, typographical wrappers. Contains brief extracts and write-ups of Sexus, Plexus and Nexus (T.C. 39, T.C. 68 & T.C. 72; 3,000 francs apiece). The Watcher and the Watched (T.C. 69, 1,500 francs). Terror (1,200 francs). Iniquity (1,200 francs). The Whipping Post (1,500 francs). The Whipping Club (1,200 francs). I‘m For Hire (1,200 francs). Abandon (1,200 francs). Without Shame (1,200 francs). The She-Devils (1,500 francs). The Gilded Lily (1,200 francs). Springtime in Paree [sic] (1,200 francs). The Castle of the End of Love (1,200 francs). My Life and Loves vol. V (T.C. 10, 1,200 francs). Count Palmiro Vicarion‘s Book of Limericks and Book of Bawdy Ballads (600 francs apiece). Lust (1,200 francs). The House of Borgia Vol. 2 (1,200 francs). The Fetish Crowd (T.C. 73. Announced for publication July 1959. 2,400 francs.) The Ordeal of the Rod (1,200 francs). Pages [13,14] are taken up with priced catalogue, and p. [15] carries ordering instructions. Backpage p. [16] is blank. Notes: (1) Nexus was never published by the Olympia Press, and T.C. 72 never allocated a title to replace it. (2) I‘m for Hire, listed also in the catalogue section as an Ophelia Press title, never appeared under that imprint. (3) Springtime in Paree appeared as Springtime in Paris.
Well a significant amount of progress has been made but still some way to go, I am continuing to list both Olympia press and other erotica for trade and a decreasing number of wants, but enjoying it very much, despite my shy and rather silent readership. See below for the collection as it stands today, and with a few more items on the way, its getting better every day.
Unlike my last first listed WANT: This is one I have seen,twice, both in collections, one in the Netherlands and the other in Scandinavia, this is, as described below in the bibliographical detail, a variant of Business as Usual, by Soliman Peters, in the distinctive “salmon pink” covers of the Ophelia Press. Alas I have no image of this title. The story behind the appearance of this title, is that the author had sold the original title to both Girodias, and at the same time the publisher of Weekend Books, a competitor.
In an attempt to protect his investment (probably a pittance), Girodias rewrote a number of pages and changed the title and author and produced this title which I need to complete the Ophelia imprints in my collection.
Bibliographical detail with permission of Patrick Kearney., The Olympia Press. Liverpool University Library. 2007.
6.3.1 SPRINGTIME IN PARIS Theobald Lovelace, 1958
THEOBALD LOVELACE | SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS | OPHELIA PRESS | PARIS Collation: 190 pp. 4.1 – 4.128. The collation on this book is untidy, but correct as stated. The pagination begins at the half-title, but is preceded by a blank leaf on the recto of which is the first signature. The gathering therefore appears to have fourteen leaves, but the number is made up to the correct sixteen by the preliminary blank. 17.8 x 11.3 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [i,ii], blank. p. [1] SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS, reverse blank. p. [3] title, as above. p. [4] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | All rights reserved by Ophelia Press. p. 5-189, text. p. [190] Imprimé en Février 1958 | Imprimerie Spéciale des Éditions Ophelia Press | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1958.
Binding: Pale tan wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with the body of the book. [Front cover; within a vertical three-line oblong frame:] THEOBALD LOVELACE | SPRINGTIME | IN PARIS | [outside frame, at foot of cover:] OPHELIA PRESSř. [Spine; author and imprint printed horizontally across head and foot, and title lettered vertically up spine between them:] THEOBALD | LOVELACE [-] SPRINGTIME IN PARIS [-] OPHELIA | PRESS. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] [price in bold ] FRS. 750 | NOT TO BE SOLD IN | THE U. K. OR U. S. A. Notes: (1) The same book as Business as Usual by Soliman Peters except for the first page of text. (2) Advertised in a 1959 Olympia Press catalogue as being called Springtime in Paree by Alan Peters.
