Back on to my favourite topic , which is the really rare titles. Something of a peripheral item, the books published or allegedly published, constitute an attempt by Maurice Girodias to avoid the attention of the French authorities, by shifting some of his editions to a Copenhagen printer. As Pat Kearney notes:-“Right up to the end, the French police were snapping at Girodias’s heels, and one of his last publishing efforts in Paris was to have six novels printed in Copenhagen, a desperate attempt to evade the authorities at home and launch a new series called The Odyssey Library. Despite the fact that censorship had been abolished in Denmark not to mention the fact the books were in English the Danish authorities were somehow persuaded by their French counterparts to halt the operation. Most of these novels were later reprinted in New York by the Olympia Press, but copies of the Danish originals, which are amongst the scarcest of the books that Girodias published, do emerge from time to time.” (Patrick Kearney, The Paris Olympia Press. Liverpool University Press 2007) Index Numbers are the actual location of the description in the bibliography.
Now for the first time I have the 4 known titles in my possession at the same time, quite an event, well for me at least, this post gives all the available information on the titles in the series from Pat Kearney’s description below, we know that Whores, Queers and Others was prepared for publication in this series , as the later NY printing carries the distinctive Odyssey Library title page, as for Sextet no one seems to have any idea whether or not it was actually produced other than as the last title in the Paris Traveller’s Companion series.
So go on someone tell me that you have copies of either, photographic evidence will be required, and you would be welcome to donate them to my collection.
Scream my Darling Scream Angela Pearson , Odyssey Library, Copenhagen, 1963
The Odyssey Library In order of series number.
Flesh Raffle 12.1
Lessons in Love 12.2
[Whores, Queers, and Others] 12.3
Scream, My Darling, Scream 12.4
My Mother Taught Me 12.5
[Sextet] 12.6
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS
12.1.1 FLESH RAFFLE Jim Dobbs, 1963
[Within a black, highly ornamental frame comprising on each side statues on plinths and surmounted by mythological, tailed figures, the whole resting on a base decorated florally and at its centre a cameo:] [three typographic fig leafs] FLESH | RAFFLE by | jim dobbs [two typographic fig leafs] | 1 | THE ODYSSEY LIBRARY
Collation: 196 pp. No signatures, but [1-11]8, [12]10. The final signature has an additional double leaf, inserted. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3], [three typographic fig leafs] FLESH | RAFFLE by | jim dobbs [two typographic fig leafs], reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6], Printed in Denmark | June 1963 by Behrndt Offset. Copyright by the Odyssey Library | © 1963. All rights of reproduction in all countries strictly re- | served. Any infringement of copyright will be prosecuted. pp. 7-196, text.
Binding: Matt dark red wrappers, trimmed flush with the book. The front wrapper reproduces the titlepage, except for the following differences. The ornamental border is in white. The central panel where the title, author, &c. are given is in black. The typographic fig leaves are dark red. The title, author, series number and publisher are in white.
[Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the title and author lettered in black down spine:] FLESH RAFFLE by Jim Dobbs.
[Backwrapper; at foot, lettered in white within a solid black panel:] U.S. dollars 3,60 or equivalent in other currencies. [Printed in small black type at bottom right of backwrapper and at 90° to price panel:] Printed in Denmark | BEHRNDT OFFSET Notes: This is probably the original edition of a novel called Hot Lottery credited to the same author and advertised by the Olympia Press in New York about 1967 as volume 215 of the Traveller’s Companion Series. A comparison of the two books, however, has not yet been undertaken because a copy of the supposed American reprint has not been located. Other books appearing under this pseudonym from other publishers in the United States include In Lust and War (1969) and Island Lust (1969). A third novel, Chateau Venus, was published by the Olympia Press in New York in 1968.
12.2.1 LESSONS IN LOVE Marjorie Cartwright, 1963
[Within a black, highly ornamental frame comprising on each side statues on plinths and surmounted by mythological, tailed figures, the whole resting on a base decorated florally and at its centre a cameo:] LESSONS IN | LOVE by Marjorie | Cartwright [two typographic fig leafs] | 2 | THE ODYSSEY LIBRARY
Collation: 244 pp. No signatures, but [1-14]8, [15]10. The final signature has an additional double leaf, inserted. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3], LESSONS IN | LOVE by Marjorie | Cartwright [two typographic fig leafs], reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6], Printed in Denmark | June 1963 by Behrndt Offset. Copyright by the Odyssey Library | © 1963. All rights of reproduction in all countries strictly re- | served. Any infringement of copyright will be prosecuted. pp. 7-241, text. pp. [242-244] blank.
Binding: Matt dark red wrappers, trimmed flush with the book. The front wrapper reproduces the title page, except for the following differences. The ornamental border is in white. The central panel where the title,ornamental border is in white. The central panel where the title, author, &c. are given is in black. The typographic fig leaves are dark red. The title, author, series number and publisher are in white.
[Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the title and author lettered in black down spine:] LESSONS IN LOVE by Marjorie Cartwright.
[Backwrapper; at foot, lettered in white within a solid black panel:] U.S. dollars 3,60 or equivalent in other currencies. [Printed in small black type at bottom right of backwrapper and at 90° to price panel:] Printed in Denmark | BEHRNDT OFFSET. Notes: Reprinted under the title Rape of the Statue by the Olympia Press in New York in 1968 as no. 104 of the Ophelia Press imprint.
12.3.1 WHORES, QUEERS, AND OTHERS (2 vols.) Philip Barrows [Daniel R. Tuite] Note: No copy known. Existence implied from catalogs and the missing series number 3. Published later by the New York Olympia Press, with a title page in the same Baroque style as the Danish series. It is possible this book was never published in the Odyssey Library series, but first (and only) released by the New York Olympia Press.
12.4.1 SCREAM, MY DARLING, SCREAM Angela Pearson [John Millington-Ward], 1963
Scream my Darling Scream Angela Pearson , Odyssey Library, Copenhagen, 1963
[Within a black, highly ornamental frame comprising on each side statues on plinths and surmounted by mythological, tailed figures, the whole resting on a base decorated florally and at its centre a cameo:] [two typographic fig leafs] SCREAM, | MY DARLING, | SCREAM ! by | Angela Pearson | 4 | THE ODYSSEY LIBRARY
Collation: 196 pp. No signatures, but [1-11]8, [12]10. The final signature has an additional double leaf, inserted. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3], [two typographic fig leafs] SCREAM,| MY DARLING, | SCREAM ! by | angela pearson,
Scream Title Page
reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6], Printed in Denmark | June 1963 by Behrndt Offset. Copyright by the Odyssey Library | © 1963. All rights of reproduction in all countries strictly re- | served. Any infringement of copyright will be prosecuted. pp. 7-195, text. p. [196] blank. Binding: Matt dark red wrappers, trimmed flush with the book. The front wrapper reproduces the titlepage, except for the following differences. The ornamental border is in white. The central panel where the title, author, &c. are given is in black. The typographic fig leaves are dark red. The title, author, series number and publisher are in white. [Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the title and author lettered in black down spine:] SCREAM, MY DARLING, SCREAM ! by angela pearson.
Scream spine view
[Backwrapper; at foot, lettered in white within a solid black panel:] U.S. dollars 3,60 or equivalent in other currencies. [Printed in small black type at bottom right of backwrapper and at 90° to price panel:] Printed in Denmark | BEHRNDT OFFSET.
Scream Back Cover
Published later by the New York Olympia Press
12.5.1 MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME: Tor Kung. [Jean Mclean and Jack Gilbert], 1963
[Within a black, highly ornamental frame comprising on each side statues on plinths and surmounted by mythological, tailed figures, the whole resting on a base decorated florally and at its centre a cameo:] MY MOTHER | TAUGHT ME | by Tor Kung [two typographic fig leafs] | 5 | THE ODYSSEY LIBRARY
Collation: 200 pp. No signatures, but [1-12]8, [13]4. Printed on white wove paper. Contents: pp. [1,2] blank. p. [3], MY MOTHER| TAUGHT ME | by tor kung [two typographic fig leafs], reverse blank. p. [5] title, as above. p. [6], Printed in Denmark | June 1963 by Behrndt Offset. Copyright by the Odyssey Library | © 1963. All rights of reproduction in all countries strictly re- | served. Any infringement of copyright will be prosecuted. pp. 7-198, text. pp. [199-200] blank.
Binding: Matt dark red wrappers, trimmed flush with the book. The front wrapper reproduces the titlepage, except for the following differences. The ornamental border is in white. The central panel where the title, author, &c. are given is in black. The typographic fig leaves are dark red. The title, author, series number and publisher are in white.
[Spine; within a white, black-edged panel, the title and author lettered in black down spine:] MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME by Tor Kung.
[Backwrapper; at foot, lettered in white within a solid black panel:] U.S. dollars 3,60 or equivalent in other currencies. [Printed in small black type at bottom right of backwrapper and at 90° to price panel:] Printed in Denmark | BEHRNDT OFFSET. Note: Published later by the New York Olympia Press.
12.6.1 SEXTET J.Hume Parkinson 1963
Note: No copy known. Existence implied from catalogues and the missing series number 6. Published in 1965 in the Traveller’s Companion Series, Number 94 (5.94)
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