The final title to complete my Atlantic Library set. An important addition to the collection, and increasingly difficult to find. Like other titles in the New into the Collection category this title is not for sale or trade.
4.7.1 THE CARNAL DAYS OF HELEN SEFERIS
Frances Lengel [Alexander Trocchi], 1954 FRANCES LENGEL | THE CARNAL DAYS | of | HELEN SEFERIS | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by |THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 192 pp. [1]-128. 17.6 x 11.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-4] blank. p. [5] THE CARNAL DAYS |of | HELEN SEFERIS, reverse blank. p. [7] title, as above. p. [8] Printed in France | [rule] | Copyright 1954 | by The Olympia Press, Paris. p. [9] Introductory note. p. [10] blank. pp. 11-183, text. p. [184] blank. pp. [185,6], catalogue of all ten volumes of The Atlantic Library series, with descriptive matter for each. p. [187] PRINTED MAY 1954 | BY IMPRIMERIE RICHARD, PARIS | Dépôt légal : 2e. trimestre 1954. pp. [188-192] blank.
Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] FRANCES LENGEL | THE | CARNAL DAYS | OF | HELEN | SEFERIS | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY‘.
Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] THE CARNAL DAYS | [in white across bottom of spine:] 7.
Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Description provided courtesy of Patrick Kearney The Paris Olympia Press. The Liverpool University Press 2007.
An important addition to the collection, and increasingly difficult to find. Like other titles in the New into the Collection category this title is not for sale or trade.
4.6.1 YOUNG ADAM Frances Lengel [Alexander Trocchi], 1954
FRANCES LENGEL | YOUNG ADAM | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 192 pp. [1]-128. 17.8 x 11.3 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper.Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] YOUNG ADAM. p. [4] THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | LATEST VOLUMES | 1. THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS … | by René Roques | 2. HELEN AND DESIRE … by Frances Lengel | 3. LADIES AT NIGHT … by René Roques | 4. LUST … by Count Palmiro Vicarion | 5. MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE | by John Cleland | 6. YOUNG ADAM … by Frances Lengel | 7. THE CARNAL DAYS OF HELEN SEFERIS | by Frances Lengel |8. AN ADULTS STORY … by Robert Desmond | 10. MY LIFE AND LOVES (fifth volume) … | by Frank Harris| For complete catalogues | of Atlantic Library volumes and other titles, | Apply to: The Olympia Press | 13 rue Jacob, Paris, France.. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] Printed in France [rule] Copyright 1954 | by the Olympia Press, Paris. p. [7] PART ONE. p. [8] blank. pp. 9-81, text. p. [82] blank. p. [83] PART TWO. p. [84] blank. pp. 85-144, text. p. [145] PART THREE. p. [146] blank. pp. 147-[190], text with, at foot of p. [190], printing details: PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | Printed April 1954 by Imprimerie Richard, Paris | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1954 . pp. [191-192] blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush.
Front cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] FRANCES LENGEL | YOUNG | ADAM | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY.
Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] YOUNG ADAM | [in white across bottom of spine:] 6.
Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : [660] | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A. | PRINTED IN FRANCE.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL Description provided courtesy of Patrick Kearney The Paris Olympia Press. The Liverpool University Press 2007.
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.
.The continuing saga of my Traveller’s Companion duplicates, as with other listings, bibliographical detail courtesy of Patrick Kearney, The Paris Olympia Press, Liverpool University Press 2007. The numerical index (example 5.23.1, is the location of the description in the bibliography.
Each listing is:- title, image (actual book), bibliographical description, followed by number of copies available, and brief note on condition. Extra images and full description of condition on request.
5.23.1 ROMAN ORGY Marcus Van Heller [John Stevenson], 1956
MARCUS VAN HELLER | ROMAN | ORGY | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e Collation: 208 pp. 23.1-23.616, 23.78. 17.6 x 11.2 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] ROMAN | ORGY. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia Press, Paris, France. p.[5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-[207], text. p. [208] catalogue listing vols. 1, 4-29 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series and Lolita, with printing details at foot of page: PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | PRINTED APRIL 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, SEINE, FRANCE | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1956. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] MARCUS VAN HELLER | ROMAN | ORGY | no 23 | THE | TRAVELLERS COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 23 [-] ROMAN ORGY. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: (1) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (2) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised.
One Copy about good, extra images and detailed description on request.
5.24.1 HEAVEN, HELL AND THE WHORE Robert Desmond [Robert Desmond Thompson] 1956
ROBERT DESMOND | HEAVEN, | HELL | AND | THE WHORE | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES |published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e Collation: 256 pp. 24.1-24.816. 17.5 x 11.0 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] HEAVEN, | HELL | AND | THE WHORE. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia Press, Paris, France. p.[5] title, as above. p. [6] Dedicated to my dear Teddie, without whose help this | book would have been written much more quickly. pp. 7-251, text. pp. [252-256] catalogue, with short descriptive notes, of vols. 1, 4-27 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series, and of Lolita and Justine, with printing details at foot of p. [256]: PRINTED JUNE 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, SEINE, FRANCE |Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1956. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] ROBERT DESMOND | HEAVEN | HELL | AND | THE WHORE | no 24 | THE | TRAVELLER’S COMPANION |SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 24 [-] HEAVEN HELL AND THE WHORE. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900.
Notes: (1) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (2) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised.
2 copies , one very good, one fair, extra images and detailed description of condition on request.
5.25.1 THONGS Carmencita de las Lunas [Alexander Trocchi] 1956
CARMENCITA DE LAS LUNAS | THONGS | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris VIe Collation: 192 pp. [1]-616. Signatures printed with the series no. and title at the foot of the left-hand side of the leaf and a number at the foot of the right-hand side, save the first, which is signed with the series no. and title only. 17.5 x 11.0 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] THONGS. p. [4] [rule] |All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia | Press, Paris, France. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-184, text. pp. [185,186] blank. pp. 187-189 catalogue, with short descriptive notes, of vols. 1-25 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series. p. [190] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | Imprimerie Spéciale des Éditions The Olympia Press | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1956. pp. [191,2] blank. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] CARMENCITA DE LAS LUNAS | THONGS | no 25 | THE | TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 25 [-] THONGS. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: (1) Mr Steve Mullins reports a copy of Thongs in his collection which has no printer information or dates, but… appears to be the genuine article. Perhaps a later reprint by Girodias. (2) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (3) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised.
One copy Very Good.Extra images and detailed description of condition on request.
5.26.1 WHO PUSHED PAULA? Akbar del Piombo [Norman Rubington], 1956
AKBAR DEL PIOMBO | WHO | PUSHED | PAULA | ? |THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e Collation: 192 pp. 26.1-26.616. 17.5 x 11.2 cm.., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] WHO | PUSHED | PAULA | ?ř. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia Press, Paris, France. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-[187], text,Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] AKBAR DEL PIOMBO | WHO | PUSHED | PAULA | ? |no 26 | THE | TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 26 [-] WHO PUSHED PAULA?[Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: (1) In an advertising flyer dated January 1956, in the collection of Angus Carroll, the author of Who Pushed Paula? is given as ‘Albert Gravesend.’ (2) The compiler has a second copy of this edition which presents considerable bibliographical challenges. The collation is eccentric, comprising twelve gatherings of eight leaves apiece, unsigned save the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th which are designated 26.2 through 26.6 respectively. These signatures fall on the same pages as the copy under notice, but with no obvious relevance to the stitching of the gatherings. In addition there are two blank cancel leaves, out of sequence of the pagination, the first preceding p. [1] and the other following p. [192], in the manner of endpapers. The book is also noticeably larger, measuring 18.0 x 11.4 cm. In all other respects, the book is the same. (3) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (4) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised. with printing details at foot of p. [187]: [rule] | PRINTED FEBRUARY 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, SEINE, FRANCE | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1956 pp. [188-191] catalogue, with short descriptive notes, of vols. 1-27 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series, and of Lolita and Justine . p. [192] blank.
One copy Poor very worn, but complete.
5.27.1 SKIRTS Akbar del Piombo [Norman Rubington], 1956
AKBAR DEL PIOMBO | SKIRTS | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e Collation: 208 pp. 27.1-27.616, 27.78. 17.7 x 11.0 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] SKIRTS. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia Press, Paris, France. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-200, text. pp. [201-204] catalogue, with short descriptive notes, of vols. 1, 4-27 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series, and of Lolita and Justine . p. [205] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | PRINTED MARCH 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, SEINE, FRANCE | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1956. pp. [206-208] blank. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] AKBAR DEL PIOMBO | SKIRTS | no 27 | THE | TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 27 [-] SKIRTS. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: (1) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (2) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised.
3 copies 1 Fine, 2 Very Good, extra images and detailed description on request.
5.28.1 SARABANDE FOR A BITCH Mickey Dikes [pseud.], 1956
MICKEY DIKES | SARABANDE | FOR | A BITCH | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e Collation: 208 pp. 28.1-28.616, 28.78. 17.8 x 11.0 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] SARABANDE | FOR | A BITCH. p. [4] catalogue listing vols. 1, 4-29 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series and Lolita. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] [rule] | All right reserved in all countries by The Olympia Press, Paris, France pp. 7-208, text with, at foot of p. [208], printing details: PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | PRINTED APRIL 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, SEINE, FRANCE | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1956. Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] MICKEY DIKES | SARABANDE | FOR | A BITCH | no 28 | THE | TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 28 [-] SARABANDE FOR A BITCH. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: (1) Suppressed on December 10th, 1956 under the decree of May 1939 (article 14 of the law of July 29th 1881 sur la liberté de la presse), designed to combat politically and morally offensive périodiques et ouvrages de provenance étrangère. (2) Prosecuted on July 11th. 1958 under article 14 of a law passed on 16th July 1949 concerning the manner in which books, periodicals, &c. of an erotic character, could be sold, displayed and advertised.
3 copies 2 very good, 1 good. Extra images and detailed description of condition on request.
5.30.1 CRUEL LIPS Marcus Van Heller [John Stevenson], 1956
MARCUS [reduced] VAN HELLER | CRUEL LIPS | THE TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6 Collation: 192 pp. 30.1-30.616. 18.0 x 11.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-2] blank. p. [3] CRUEL LIPSř. p. [4] [rule] | All right reserved by The Olympia Press, Paris, France p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] catalogue of vols. 7 and 8, and 15-32 of The Traveller‘s Companion Series. pp. 7-190, text. p. [191] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | PRINTED JULY 1956 BY S.I.P., MONTREUIL, FRANCE | Dépôt légal : 3e trimestre 1956. p. [192] blank.
Binding: Olive-green wrappers, printed in black, and trimmed flush with body of book. [Front cover; within a frame of two borders, the outer consisting of fine linked chain of type device in black, and the inner a thin band of white edged in black:] MARCUS VAN HELLER | CRUEL | LIPS | no 30 | THE |TRAVELLER’S COMPANION | SERIES. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the series no. in horizontal digits at bottom and title lettered vertically up spine:] 30 [-] CRUEL LIPS. [Back cover, at bottom right-hand corner:] Francs : 900. Notes: The catalogue on p. [6] gives a box number address: The Olympia Press, B.P. 82.06 Paris 6, France.
2 Copies both Very Good
To view earlier listing (lower numbers) click the link below
Introduction and description courtesy of Patrick Kearney, The Paris Olympia Press, Liverpool University Press 2007, P.89 . Index numbers [ Example 4.1.1, are description locators within the bibliography].
Listing here are 6 of the 10 titles which is in itself a very rare occurrence. Images are of the actual books which are duplicate copies from my personal collection, as always they are available to trade against my wants, or failing that other rare items of erotica that might enhance my listings and offer me more of a target audience to find the Olympia Press titles I still need.
Like Collection Merlin, The Atlantic Library was a short series (comprising ten titles), all published in 1954, all sporting a design that prefigured the soon-to-be-launched Traveller’s Companion Series, but in orange.
The first and third books were English translations of works by Rene Roques: Interdit aux Juene Filles (Forbidden to Young Girls), translated by Peter Leroy as Three Passionate Lovers; and et Treize Fois Impure (…and Thirteen Times Impure), translated by James O’Leary as Ladies at Night, the first two novels in Roques Interdit aux Juene Filles collection. The first title was already a bestseller by the time Girodias published the English translation, having sold over 50,000 copies in various French editions. In 1955, et Treize Fois Impure was banned under the 1949 Law concerning the sale of books to minors, but, oddly enough, the English translation published by Girodias was not.
The connection with Roques did not end there, for it appears Girodias also distributed the French editions of the first three titles in the Interdit aux Jeune Filles collection, the two above and also No. 3, Viol (Rape), evidence for which is found in the Olympia Press Teaser Paris Exotique (3.2), in which an extract from et Treize Fois Impure (Passion de la Nuit) can also be found.
The second book in the series, Helen and Desire, was the first Olympia Press title written by Alexander Trocchi of Merlin fame (writing under one of his many pseudonyms, Frances Lengel). He would write four of the ten Atlantic titles (including No. 10, My Life & Loves, Volume Five, supposedly the fifth book in Frank Harris’s outlandish autobiography). Young Adam, No. 6, would eventually be made into a movie (2003). In total, Trocchi would write seven Olympia Press titles and translate one (The Debauched Hospodar, 1.6).
Five of the Atlantic titles also appear under the Traveller’s Companion Series: Helen and Desire, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (as Memoirs of Fanny Hill), An Adults Story, The Watcher and the Watched, and My Life and Loves. Lust appears under the Ophelia imprint.
Atlantic Library titles are rare, several quite so.
4.1.1 THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS René Roques, 1954
RENÉ ROQUES | THREE | PASSIONATE | LOVERS | A novel translated | from the French | by Peter Leroy | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris-6e Collation: 192 pp. [1]-128. 18.0 x 11.4 cm, all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1-4] blank. p. [5] THREE | PASSIONATE |LOVERS. p. [6] THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | LATEST VOLUMES | THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS by René Roques | LADIES AT NIGHT … by René Roques | LUST … by Count Palmiro Vicarion | HELEN AND DESIRE … by Frances Lengel | See excerpts at the end | of the present volume. | Catalogues will be supplied free on request. | Apply to: The Olympia Press, 13 rue Jacob, | Paris 6, France. | [rule] |All rights reserved in all countries by René Roques | and The Olympia Press. p. [7] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 9-166, text of Three Passionate Lovers. pp. 167-171, extract from Lust by Count Palmiro Vicarion [Christopher Logue]. pp. 172-177, extract from Helen and Desire by Frances Lengel [Alexander Trocchi]. pp. 178-188, extract from Women at Night by René Roques. p. [189] PRINTED JANUARY 1954 | BY IMPRIMERIE RICHARD, PARIS | Printed in France | [rule] | Dépôt légal 1er trimestre 1954. [rule]. pp. [190-192], blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front-cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] RENÉ ROQUES | THREE | PASSIONATE | LOVERS | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY. Spine: [lettered in white down spine, and all within a black panel:] THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS | [in white across bottom of spine:] 1. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A. | PRINTED IN FRANCE. Notes: Three Passionate Lovers is a translation of Interdit aux Jeunes Fille (Paris: La Clé d’Or , 1951). A reprint published, apparently, by the author (Paris: R.R., 1953) was distributed by The Olympia Press.
[One copy Very Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
COUNT PALMIRO VICARION | LUST | THE ATLANTIC LIBARY [sic] | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 224 pp. [1]-148. 17.8 x 11.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] LUST. p. [4] A LIST OF TITLES | ALREADY PUBLISHED IN | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | HELEN AND DESIRE … by Frances Lengel | LUST … by Count Palmiro Vicarion | THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS, by René Roques | LADIES AT NIGHT … by René Roques | Complete catalogue supplied on request. | [rule] | All rights reserved in all countries. | Copyright by The Olympia Press, 1954. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-218, text. p. [219-220] blank. p. [221] PRINTED FEBRUARY 1954 | BY IMPRIMERIE RICHARD | PARIS | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 1er trimestre 1954. | [rule]. pp. [222-224] blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front-cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] COUNT | PALMIRO VICARION | LUST | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY. Spine: [lettered in white down spine, and all within a black panel:] LUST | [in white across bottom of spine:] 4. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A | PRINTED IN FRANCE.Notes: Concerning this novel, and in reply to a question about its reprinting under the Ophelia Press imprint, Mr. Logue wrote to the present writer in 1975: All I know about Lust is; 1) I wrote it; 2) I was paid for it but once; 3) M. G. [Maurice Girodias] did not tell me of his reprints.
[One copy Very Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
4.5.1 MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE John Cleland, 1954
JOHN CLELAND | MEMOIRS | OF A WOMAN | OF PLEASURE | [small device of leaves] | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 256 pp. [1]-168. 17.8 x 11.3cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] MEMOIRS | OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE‘. p. [4] The texte [sic] of this unabridged | version of the authentic | MEMOIRS OF FANNY HILL | is based on the original | edition published by | G. Fenton, London 1749 | under the present title: |Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasureŗ. p. [5] title, as above, reverse blank. pp. 7-248, text. pp. [249-250] blank. p. [251] THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | LATEST VOLUMES | 1. THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS. by René Roques | 2. HELEN AND DESIRE … by Frances Lengel | 3. LADIES AT NIGHT … by René Roques | 4. LUST … by Count Palmiro Vicarion | 5. MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN | OF PLEASURE … by John Cleland | 6. YOUNG ADAM … by Frances Lengel | Complete catalogues will be supplied | free on request. Apply to: | The Olympia Press | 13 rue Jacob, Paris, France. p. [252] blank. p. [253] PRINTED | APRIL 1954 BY | IMPRIMERIE MAZARINE | PARIS | Printed in France | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1954, pp. [254-256] blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front-cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] JOHN CLELAND |MEMOIRS | OF A WOMAN | OF PLEASURE | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY‘. Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE | [in white across bottom of spine:] 5. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A | PRINTED IN FRANCE. Notes: (1) Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is one of the most enduring erotic novels in any language, and has probably been in print constantly since it was first published at London in two volumes, the first in 1748 and the second early in the following year. Many editions have omitted an episode in the novel involving a graphically described homosexual encounter that is witnessed by the leading character whilst resting at an inn near Hampton Court. This present edition is one of the few that include this incident. (2) Mr. Jan Moret reports an altered state of this printing that has a blue sticker on the back wrapper indicating a price increase to Francs 1.200.
[One copy Very Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
4.8.1 AN ADULT’S STORY Robert Desmond [Robert Desmond Thompson], 1954
ROBERT DESMOND | AN ADULT’S | STORY | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 208 pp. [1]-616, 78. 17.8 x 11.2 cm, all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper.Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] AN ADULT’S STORY, reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. pp. [6,7] catalogue, with descriptive blurbs, of all ten titles in the Atlantic Library series. At the foot of p. [7] is: Printed in France | [rule] |Copyright 1954 by The Olympia Press. p. [8] blank. pp. 9-206, text. p. [207] Printed in France | [rule] | Printed by Imprimerie Richard, Paris, April 1954 | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1954. pp. [208], blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front-cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] ROBERT DESMOND | AN | ADULT’S | STORY | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY. Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] AN ADULT‘S STORY | [in white across bottom of spine:] 8. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A. Notes: Robert Desmond was an English national working in a bank in Rotterdam, Holland. In 1996 he was living in Hackney, East London. Mr. James Armstrong researched and identified the author.
[One copy Very Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
4.9.1 THE WATCHER AND THE WATCHED Thomas Peachum [Philip Oxman], 1954
THOMAS PEACHUM | THE WATCHER | AND | THE WATCHED | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by |THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris, France Collation: 288 pp. [1]-916. 17.8 x 11.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] title, as above. p. [4] THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | 1. THREE PASSIONATE LOVERS by René Roques | 2. HELEN AND DESIRE By Frances Lengel | 3. LADIES AT NIGHT by René Roques | 4. LUST by Count Palmiro Vicarion | 5. MEMOIRS OF FANNY HILL by John Cleland | 6. YOUNG ADAM by Frances Lengel | 7. THE CARNAL DAYS OF HELEN SEFERIS | by Frances Lengel | 8. AN ADULT’S STORY by Robert Desmond | 9. THE WATCHER AND THE WATCHED | by Thomas Peachum | 10. MY LIFE AND LOVES (5th vol.) by Frank Harris | A complete up-to-date catalogue will be | sent on request. | Printed in France | [rule] | All rights reserved by The Olympia Press, Paris. pp. 5-286, text. p. [287] PRINTED JUNE 1954 | BY | IMPRIMERIE RICHARD, |PARIS | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 2 e trimestre 1954. | [rule]. p. [208] blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] THOMAS PEACHUM | THE | WATCHER | AND THE | WATCHED | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY. Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] THE WATCHER & THE WATCHED | [in white across bottom of spine:] 9ř. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A. | PRINTED IN FRANCE. Notes: Published under the author’s true name by Sphere Books at London in 1970.
[Two copies one Very Good, one Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
4.10.1 MY LIFE AND LOVES VOL. 5 Frank Harris [Alexander Trocchi], 1954
FRANK HARRIS | MY LIFE | AND LOVES | FIFTH VOLUME | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY | published by | THE OLYMPIA PRESS | 13, rue Jacob, Paris Collation: 192 pp. [1]-616. 17.6 x 11.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper.Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3] MY LIFE | AND LOVES, reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6] PRINTED IN FRANCE | [rule] | Copyright by The Olympia Press, Paris. pp. 7-186, text. pp. [187,8] catalogue, with descriptive blurbs, of all ten titles in the Atlantic Library series. p. [189] PRINTED JUNE 1954 | BY | IMPRIMERIE RICHARD | PARIS | [rule] | Dépôt légal : 2e trimestre 1954.ř. pp. [190-192] blank. Binding: Orange wrappers, trimmed flush. Front cover: [printed in black and all contained within a white oblong frame matching proportions of book:] FIRST PRINTING |FRANK HARRIS | MY LIFE | AND LOVES | Fifth volume | THE ATLANTIC LIBRARY. Spine: [lettered in white up spine, and all within a black panel:] MY LIFE AND LOVES | [in white across bottom of spine:] 10. Back cover: [in black:] FRANCS : 660 | NOT TO BE INTRODUCED INTO THE U.K. OR U.S.A. | PRINTED IN FRANCE. Notes: The story behind this fabricated fifth volume of Harris’s celebrated memoirs will be found in Maurice Girodias, The Olympia Reader (New York: Grove Press, 1965), pp. 345-349.
[Two copies one Very Good, one Good, detailed description and extra images on request]
Well an amazing find and not listed in Kearney. Nor to the best of my knowledge in any of the other collections auctioned in recent years. Something of a landmark, and almost definitely the last advertising pamphlet issued by the press from its Paris base.
Internal evidence suggests that this leaflet was prepared specially
for distribution at the 1966 Frankfurt Book Fair, which is held
annually in mid-October.
Scarce, late piece of Paris Olympia Press ephemera, from Sept. 1966,
comprising a single leaf of silver-coloured paper measuring 42 x 27 cm,
folded length-wise to create four pages. Page one carries the masthead
‘Olympia Press News’ superimposed over a photograph of what
appears to be Maurice Girodias walking down a Paris street with a
nun in the foreground.
Pages 2-3 comprise a note by Girodias, dated Sept. 22 1966, headed
‘Olympia Press News, Good and Bad,’ in which is discussed, among
other things, the success of American and English editions of many
of his books, a publishing deal with New English Library in London,
the proposed revival of Olympia magazine and plans for Japanese
and Swedish publications.
The balance of page 3
comprise a catalogue of the New English Library editions already
in print.
Reproduced here courtesy of the author. Originally published in Fine Books Magazine July 2010.
When my father died in 1995, I found a half-dozen green paperbacks in his office, his own book included—Bottoms Up—all volumes in the now infamous Traveller’s Companion Series. Not realizing what I was getting into, I thought it would be fun to collect the set. Thus began my ten-year odyssey with the Olympia Press.
From a handful of “greenies” to editing the definitive bibliography by Patrick Kearney, it has been a fascinating adventure—one day poring over obscure French laws, one day tracking down an unknown variant of Lolita. And one day opening a newly arrived package at the kitchen table. It was White Thighs by Frances Lengel (one of Alexander Trocchi’s pseudonyms). Of course, my wife Susan came into the room at that very moment. She looked at the book and then at me. I said, “It’s part of the series.” She turned and walked out of the room. “It’s part of the series,” I called after her, but she was gone.
The Olympia Press was founded by Maurice Girodias in Paris in 1953. Continuing his father’s legacy as a fearless, avant-garde publisher (his father, Jack Kahane, had published James Joyce, Anaïs Nin, and Henry Miller), Girodias (who took his mother’s maiden name during the war) was the first to publish The Ginger Man, The Naked Lunch, and—most famously—Lolita.
Girodias attracted the attention of the French authorities long before he founded the Olympia Press. Although he started his publishing career innocently enough in 1940 with a weekly directory of Paris theatres, Paris-Programme, and followed that with a number of high-quality art books published under the Editions du Chêne imprint, in 1946 he published a French edition of Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn that was immediately banned, the first time the French government had moved against a book since Flaubert’sMadame Bovary a century before. He won that battle, but then published (in English) Miller’s Sexus in 1949 under his father’s resurrected imprint, the Obelisk Press. That book was banned outright in all languages. Thus, by 1950, he had established a reputation as a publisher of the risqué if not the pornographic.
In 1951, Girodias lost control of Editions du Chêne (and thus also Obelisk Press) to Hachette, the largest publisher in France. Over the next few years he did very little (his own words) before launching the Olympia Press, named after Manet’s scandalous painting.
It was not long before he was once again in hot water. Indeed, the first book off the press was Miller’s Plexus, which more or less set the tone for the new enterprise. From the pornographic to the experimental, from first English translations to modern classics, Girodias published a bizarre mix of the good, the bad, and the obscene.
Ironically, Girodias was, to some degree, a victim of his own success. Once censorship laws in the U.S. and U.K. were repealed, the market for “dirty books” was never the same. Girodias moved to New York in the late 1960s to capitalize on new publishing freedoms in the U.S., but the company went bankrupt in the early 1970s. He published his last book in 1974 and died in Paris in 1990 at the age of 71
The Good, the Bad, and the Obscene
In 1998, having collected about half of the titles in the Traveller’s Companion Series, I arranged to meet Patrick Kearney, widely recognized as the bibliographic expert on the Olympia Press. I called him when I was planning to be in San Francisco—he lives in Santa Rosa. When I arrived at his house he immediately gave me a tour of his collection. That’s when I realized I knew next to nothing about the Olympia Press. I had not even heard of some of the books he showed me. And beyond books, there were catalogues, booklets, and magazines, to say nothing of cancelled dust jackets, freaks, and piracies.
It is safe to say, from a bibliographic standpoint, that no one knows more about the Olympia Press than Kearney. He has been collecting Olympia since the early sixties when he was a “runner,” smuggling copies of the Traveller’s Companion Series into England from France. He would sell them to “Sammy,” his London connection. Kearney recalled their meetings were like a scene from a bad spy movie. They would meet in an underground coffee shop and Kearney would hand over the goods in a brown paper bag. Sammy—who actually wore dark glasses for the exchanges—would slip the money across the table in a used window envelope for the North Thames Gas Board.
His most anxious moment as a runner came when he was travelling from Paris to London with his parents and he couldn’t fit all his contraband into his jacket. He had nowhere to put the seven-volume set of Juliette by the Marquis de Sade. “My father stuffed them in his pockets,” Kearney told me. “He was fine with it, but my mother nearly had a nervous breakdown. She was sure we would get caught.”
But they crossed the border without incident. In fact the only time Kearney was ever stopped by customs was on his way into France in 1960. “I was reading a book called La Gangrene,” Kearney recalled, “which was very critical of the French government and the role it played in Algerian affairs, up to and including torturing suspected terrorists. I had the book under my arm when I came to customs, the man there literally snatched it away from me. He said, ‘That’s not allowed here.’” If only he had known what books Kearney usually carried across the border between France and England.
Kearney met Girodias several times in Paris in the early eighties. Once, when Kearney mentioned he was having a hard time finding a copy of L’Affaire Lolita, Girodias gave him a signed copy the next time he saw him. “He was a real gentleman,” Kearney said. “Sadly, by then he was down on his luck and living in an awful, run-down government apartment. I remember he had scotch-tape on the cuffs of his jacket to keep them from fraying any further.”
Fortune would smile on Girodias one more time, though not for long. In 1990, after publishing the second volume of his autobiography—Une journée sur la terre: Les jardins d’Eros, which covered the period of the Olympia Press—Girodias was once again in the spotlight. Sadly, he died shortly thereafter during a radio interview.
Kearney published a checklist in 1975 and a short bibliography in 1987, but he had learned much since then. He showed me the updated version on his computer when I visited him in California. It was much more detailed than the 1987 edition and included a significant number of new titles, printings, and variants. I told him, “We have to get this published.”
Sex sells, but books about books that sell sex, don’t. Few bibliographies hit the bestseller list. We figured we would have to publish it ourselves. Print-on-demand services are rarely the way to fame and fortune for works of fiction (marketing and distribution being critical success factors), but they are well suited to reference works, where sales potential is limited, and—a bonus—the work never goes out of print.
Thus, we set up the work as a document to be published with a print-on-demand (POD) provider, formatted the materials, and discussed cover designs. The main shortcoming with a POD solution was that we could not have a color section illustrating the books. Nevertheless, we thought it our only option.
Over the next few years, literally thousands of emails went out to collectors, libraries, and booksellers. No fact was too small to be run down (“Does the tail of the ‘R’ in BEDROOM extend below the text on the title page of your copy of The Bedroom Philosophers?”). At the same time, we continued to make new discoveries: an issue of Merlin published by the Olympia Press; two large, coffee-table books on architecture published by Girodias in 1955 (Sicile Grecque andSaint-Philbert de Tournus). FedEx packages went back and forth between Kearney and Steve Mullins, a leading collector in London, and details were checked with John de St. Jorre, the author of Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press and its Writers.
We were just wrapping up when our luck changed. Through the grapevine we heard Liverpool University Press was planning to publish a book on the Obelisk Press. A quick email to Liverpool resulted in a contract. They thought the Olympia Press bibliography the perfect companion to the Obelisk bibliography.
Our publishing problem solved, we focused on finalizing the manuscript. The bibliography covers hundreds of titles, printings, issues, and variants and every entry had to be double-checked. When the galleys came, we went over every word again. As any author or editor knows, it is impossible to catch every error. Because everyone was focused on the text, no one read the blurb on the back cover, which states Kearney is the author of A History of Gothic Literature, which, of course, should be Erotic Literature.
The Paris Olympia Press finally came out in early 2008, ten years after my visit to Kearney’s house in 1998. For Kearney, it was the culmination of a lifetime of collecting and study, a capstone to his career as an Olympia runner, collector, and ultimately, bibliographer.
Still, there was one last chapter to be written. Having completed his labor of love, Kearney put his collection up for sale at Christie’s. On Thursday, June 12, 2008, Lot No. 206—Kearney’s entire Olympia Press Collection, comprising over 400 volumes (it took eight full pages to describe)—went under the hammer.
The collection was bought by Princeton University Library. It is now part of Princeton’s rare book collection, not to be broken up and sold piece by piece, but kept together as a collection, a focal point for the study of censorship in the twentieth century.
In point of fact, it is only because it was a bibliographer’s collection that it caught the attention of Stephen Ferguson, curator of rare books at Princeton. “When a collection formed by a bibliographer, rather than by a collector, comes on the market, I take special notice,” Ferguson said. “The chief reason is that bibliographers tend to be more aware of what research libraries are interested in supplying to the scholar: variant issues, special issues, items in original condition, publishers’ catalogs and ads, etc., all of which are vital aspects of publishing history.”
No. 86 in the Traveller’s Companion Series was Bottoms Up, by Jock Carroll (the author’s father). The heroine of the book, Gloria Heaven, was based on Marilyn Monroe. Carroll, a photojournalist, had met Monroe on the set of the movie Niagara in 1952 while on assignment for Weekend Magazine.
Unable to get Bottoms Uppublished in Canada or the United States, Carroll turned to Girodias as a last resort. Unlike North American publishers who thought the book had too much sex in it, Girodias didn’t think it had enough. He asked Carroll to spice it up, which he did.
Princeton is no newcomer to the history of publishing. The University’s special collections include the archives of G.P. Putnam and Sons, Henry Holt, Charles Scribner’s Sons, D. Van Nostrand, Harper & Brothers, and many others. But the Olympia Press collection represented a special opportunity. “Civil authority versus individual liberty is an on-going conversation,” Ferguson said. “This collection helps document a fascinating chapter in that dialog, and as such can help support important future research.”
As the (self-proclaimed) Publisher Who Defeated Censorship, I think Girodias would have been happy to know that future scholars will use the Olympia Press collection to understand the history of censorship—and the role he played in it.
Of all of the Olympia items I have traded over the years, the greatest regret I have is parting with the ephemera, such stuff is difficult to find and seldom listed by book-dealers, usually tucked away in a box somewhere, usually found when browsing , rather than presented for sale.
Pat Kearney, Paris Olympia Press, Liverpool University Press. 2007, lists a range of items at page 356.
Rather than reproduce that detail here (though I may do later), suffice to say I am interested in any ephemera, related to the press, including (but not exclusive) sales catalogues, advertising fliers, book lists, order forms, letters, business cards, and anything else with a printed or pictorial link to the press.
Any of the above or similar items, please leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you.
As I seem to have difficulty in finding enough time to list everything individually, even though I am committed to doing so, I am posting images of the volume of books that I have to trade or sell. As stated elsewhere a small number of titles are listed on AbeBooks.Com, under EGOBOOKS. Of the rest a small number are listed here, without price, primarily because I want to generate contact with collectors and would prefer to trade titles than sell them. My prices on AbeBooks are not fixed and are primarily there to provide a shopfront for me.
Paris Travellers Companion Series Duplicates
The image above shows all of my TC duplicates, as you can see there are rather a lot of them, if there are any titles that you are looking for leave a message on this blog and I will get back to you to with both trade or buying options.
Other Paris Olympia for Trade
As you can see above I have far fewer titles to trade in other series, but there are some very rare Atlantic Library editions in this shot, as well as a few listed on this site in detail.
Erotica Cabinet
As the caption indicates the image above is the non Olympia stuff, which includes all the Clandestine Losfelds, listed in detail on this site, and many many more which I will list individually as time goes on, anyone who cannot wait let me know what you are looking for and I will tell you whether or not I have it. And if you are super serious and have a rare Paris Olympia to trade, I can provide a list of titles and you can take your pick.
