2.5.1 MOLLOY
Samuel Beckett, 1955 SAMUEL BECKETT | MOLLOY | a novel | translated from the French | by Patrick Bowles | in collaboration with the Author | COLLECTION MERLIN | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8 rue de Nesle, Paris, 6e Collation: 248 pp. [1]-716, 88, 94. 18.0 x 12.8 cm, all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] molloyř. p. [4] ALL RIGHTS RESERVED IN ALL COUNTRIES | BY THE OLYMPIA PRESS, PARIS | AND GROVE PRESS, NEW YORK. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. [7]-241 text. p. [242] blank. p. [243] PRINTED MARCH 1955 BY |IMPRIMERIE MAZARINE | PARIS | Printed in France | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1955. pp. [244-248] blank. Binding: Plain white wrappers trimmed flush with body of book, under thick paper dustjacket with abstract design in black, blue and yellow running over back and spine to front. Front cover: [in black within interconnected yellow panels:] molloy | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | by | samuel beckett. Spine blank. Printed at top centre of inside back flap is FRS 1.200. Back cover has PRINTED IN FRANCE in black in top left hand corner.
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Notes: (1) Mr. Andrew Walker examined the late Alan Clodd’s copy of this edition of Molloy when in the possession of Maggs Bros., the London bookseller. He writes: At the top of the inside flap of the rear of the dustwrapper appears: SPECIAL PRINTING FOR SALE | IN THE U.K. & COMMONWEALTH [price blocked out with felt-tip pen]. With the aid of a magnifying glass and a bright light I could just about make out the letter-press impression as 12/6ř The final leaf and final printed leaf of the novel’s text are cut short with the signature 9 on the latter sliced half way through. In the compiler’s copy the same leaves are cut short, but the signature is intact. Federman & Fletcher, Samuel Beckett. His Works and His Critics. An Essay in Bibliography, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 1970, entry no. 374, mention copies overstamped FRANCE FEATURES, and [5] FRANCE FEATURES | 15, NEW ROW, ST. MARTIN’S LANE, | LONDON, W.C.2. This is not present on Clodd’s copy. Mr. Walker elaborates: There is no marking on the cover, titlepage or anywhere else to show involvement of France Features per se. As for Alan Clodd’s point about separate editions for France and the UK as quoted by Federman & Fletcher, this is supported by the fact that the printing on the inside flap of the rear of the dustwrapper begins on the line where the other copy has no more than FRS 1.200. The French pricing and sterling pricing, &c., were clearly separate exercises on previously unmarked dws. (2) I am indebted to M. Hans-Peter Litscher of Paris for informing me that the cover design for Molloy, although unsigned, was actually the work of the artist Shinkichi Tajiri, who was also responsible for designing the wrappers of Henry Miller’s Quiet Days in Clichy (6.6). It appears that Tajiri was not aware of this fact until M. Litscher sent him a colour Xerox of Molloy‘s wrappers in February, 2000. He then recalled doing a collage for Girodias, who used it without informing the artist. (3) The tradition of an Olympia Press edition of Molloy in paper boards seems to have started with advertisements in similarly bound editions of The Ginger Man (5.7.2), I Hear Voices (5.60.1) and Watt (5.95.1). In fact, it doesn’t appear that such an edition was actually published; there is no copy in any library catalogue, and there is no entry for it in Federman & Fletcher, the standard bibliographical source for Beckett. Copy used:
The Story of a Bookcase:
History of collecting book hunting
Update 25/05/2021
For the majority of my books for sale this is now my sole outlet. I had been listing most of the extremely rare flagellation material, such as the Select Bibliotheque, Collection L’Eglantine and the Carlo illustrated titles on eBay, unfortunately most of them have been deleted by eBay, and as I do not want to lose my account with them after nearly 20 years, I will not be listing this material on eBay in future. These books still appear on this site as Books for Sale, and I am happy to take any enquiries via the contact form.
Equally auction sales have been impacted because of post Brexit import duties from the UK to EU and I am gradually being squeezed for funding to source any new material.
I will resume listing on this site, although much of my remaining material is not illustrated. It seems likely that my adventure with this blog will end in the not too distant future, simply through lack of material. I will keep you updated.
How To Contact Me
I have had a number of people trying to contact me via my eBay listings, this tends to be problematic as eBay block all direct communication. If you want to contact me or buy direct please complete the Contact Form as attached below. Many Thanks, Steve.
A rare display of the Outrageous, and a massive display of the Voluptuous.
Pleased to announce that, I have obtained a small selection of 4 of the seven titles, written and published by Jean Vergerie, under the La Collection de l’Églantine. imprint.
For which detailed history and creative text, will be provided by my good friend Christophe Bier.
Also coming soon but a much larger project, is the listing and detailed imagery of some 60 Charles Carrington publications, which will be listed in brief as Books for Trade, But will be the basis for my New Collection for Bibliophiles, for which access to, will require a subscription.
The contents of this collection include both openly published and clandestine titles, many illustrated, by the Likes of Van Maele, Avril, Fredillo, as well classical illustrators.
Many copies in mint unopened condition, and a significant number ,where previous description were from “catalogue only”, including some wonderfully decorated examples of the printers, and bookbinders art of the late Victorian period, as well the inimitable engravings of Eugene d’Ete.
There will also be a supplement to this of a small collection of works published by Isidore Liseux, Augustine Brancart, Jules Gay, and Henry Kistaemackers.
Supplementary information and collection history provided by Michael Neale, and bibliographical information courtesy of S.A. Perry.
Finally I am going to link my existing listings with illustrations by Van Maele and add significant others by him to another New Collection, again with the kind support of S.A Perry.
Update 10/06/20
I am embarking on a short list, of titles which are all , what I refer to as rescued books, this is because although the general condition is at best Fair to Good, they are such rare titles that their importance outweighs any consideration of condition.
This also provides a useful reminder that these are real books and not just pictures lifted from the web. All new listings will at some point switch from Books for Trade to Books for Sale, as I am now able to take direct payment via PayPal, which enables me to cut out the middle men, and offer substantial discounts. I will list books firstly as a bibliographical exercise, edited for the best visual presentation, but when upgraded to “For Sale”I will insert a detailed description of all faults, defects and any missing illustrations, along with a link to a PDF of images, which anyone can download.
I have a very large number of books to list, as well as revisions on legacy titles which are still in my possession. Look out for and also search “Books for Sale”, if you are interested in purchasing anything please ask. My direct sales offer a significant discount over third party sales platforms. In future only modern (post 1965) books will be listed on my eBay account, as I do not want modern books on this site. I am not sending any books to auction for the foreseeable future on any platform.
Random Images: 3. An odd flagellation scene.
If anyone can identify which book this image belongs to I will publish more images from the same title.
See Also
Random Images: Rorschach! or is it?
Random Images: Rorschach! or is it?
Well no one is likely to know where this came from or who created it but possibly, might know whether there is a name for this kind of erotic trickery. I don’t know the answer but would like to find out. This item was discovered tucked into a book.
This piece of erotic ephemera has age, it is printed or possibly inked onto a piece of parchment like paper measuring (20.5 x 13.5 cm), it has a sharp crease through the centre allowing the image to be folded in on itself, which when held to the light produces an erotic scene in silhouette.
Any information or questions, please leave a comment or even a like.
New into the Collection: 2 Teasers and a Catalogue
After another long absence, I return with some very rare ephemera from the Paris Olympia Press. Listed here only briefly, I will post more detailed descriptions if there is any interest.
I shall in the coming days post some more illustrated erotica, in particular some material from the now defunct Erotic Print Society.
I am still considering letting my Olympia Press collection go to a new home, but in the mean time I continue to seek the few missing items.
The New Paris Teaser
The New Stripteaser
Olympia Press Catalogue 1960
The above items are all rare, but none so rare as the New Stripteaser, no copy has ever been in any of the major collections, and at the time the last bibliography as released, it was only identified as having been mentioned in a catalogue.
The Burroughs 1960 catalogue, is now a rarity because of the Burroughs connection.
I am still seeking 2 Teasers, “The Paris Teaser” and “Paris Exotique”, the English and French versions of the same publication.
See also:
Books Wanted Ephemera: The Teasers.
Books Wanted: Springtime in Paris, Theobald Lovelace, Ophelia Press Paris
Books Wanted:- MELTING [Dissolving] Travellers Companion Series No 59
Books Wanted: All Ephemera related to The Paris Olympia Press
New into the Collection: Paris Olympia Press, Price list and Order form, Spring 1962
A truly pristine item of ephemera, and a most welcome addition to my collection. This is a perfect example of the material that I am seeking, this one is courtesy of Arcana Cabana in the Netherlands, who kindly agreed to seperate the price list from an edition of Justine, where it had sat between the leaves, untouched for over 50 years. You can view the Arcana Cabana site below.
https://www.arcanacabana.com/erotica.html
Paris Olympia Press, Price list and Order form, Spring 1962.
Printed both sides in black and red on a single sheet of pale yellow card, measuring 27×9 cm. Paris bookshop sticker affixed to base of the form on the verso.
The titles in red are highlighted as new editions due to be published, interestingly, the low number Traveller’s Companion Series titles had been in print since 1955/56, therefore at TC 13 ” The Secret Life of Robinson Crusoe” was formerly entitled “The Sexual Life of Robinson Crusoe”, at TC 29, “Helen and Desire” was actually reissued as “Desire and Helen”, and at TC 40 ” The Organisation” was reissued as “The New Organisation”. Legend has it that the changes in title of these reprints was a ploy to confuse the Brigade Mondaine, who worked to lists of Olympia titles that had been banned in France, but as few, if any of the officials could read English a simple ploy such as above was enough to throw them off the scent.
You can also see that at TC 57, the sixth volume of Juliette was about to be issued, the slot for TC 58 was held vacant,eventually (in 1965) was occupied by “Juliette” volume seven, but at one stage in (catalogue 1958) it had been scheduled fo a TC edition of Becketts” Watt”. The title at TC 90 planned as ” The Sex Life of Ulysses” eventually came out as “A Bedside Odyssey”.
Another anomaly, under the Othello Books series (numbered 111-116), which were all to be published in 1962, at 116, sits “Sextet” by Hume Parkinson, which was not issued in this series, and appears to been passed over in the Danish imprint “Odyssey Library”, where it was supposed to be published in 1963, eventually turning up as TC 94 the last title to be published in the Travellers Companion Series in 1965.
No mention on this list of any of the Ophelia Press titles, which generally appear to have been run as a seperate enterprise the Ophelia titles are generally themed around flagellation and sado masochism which traditionally sat outside of mainstream erotica.
Such a significant amount of information from such a small piece of paper, and perhaps something of an explanation for my fascination, with the Olympia Press ephemera material.
Paris Olympia Press, Price list and Order form, Spring 1962.
Please also See
New into The Collection: Olympia Press 1959 (Catalogue)
Books Wanted Ephemera: The Teasers
The Story of a Bookcase: The Paris Olympia Press Collection 02/10/2018
After a long break from the blog, I am back in action more because of circumstances than by plan, but determined to make the most of my enforced idleness, I am updating material related to the collection and still seeking the few items that I do not have. Alongside this I am gathering the rare and obscure and hopefully bizzare items from around the web, to keep the semi-literate amongst you amused.
So just to remind you that the dedicated purpose of this blog is to provide access to information and images from erotica of all types, for free and to people who might not otherwise ever have sight of these books. But the primary purpose is to complete this Paris Olympia Press collection, and now that I need so few book titles, i am very keen to find the ephemera, for example catalogues, flyers, communication on headed paper, busines cards or anything associated with The Paris Olympia Press. l regularly update on new material coming into the collection, and list items that I am looking for under Books Wanted.
Here is an image of the collection in its latest state, please keep looking, If you have an item that you think might be of interest please use the contact form to get in touch.
Books Wanted Ephemera: The Teasers.
Books Wanted: Springtime in Paris, Theobald Lovelace, Ophelia Press Paris
Books Wanted:- MELTING [Dissolving] Travellers Companion Series No 59