Nabokov (Vladimir) Lolita, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, 2 vol., original green stiff paper wrappers, lettered in black, printed price of 900 Francs to rear panel of both volumes, Vol. 1: 1cm chip to foot of front panel at spine, some wear to spine edges and ends, small pencilled marking to rear panel, about very good, Vol. 2: some wear to spine edges and ends, small closed tear to rear panel at top of spine, a little bumped and rubbed, about very good, 8vo, Paris, Olympia Press, 1955. ***'Lolita', one of the towering literary achievements of the twentieth century and Nabokov's best-known masterpiece, was turned down by every major American publishing house. It eventually found a home in Paris with Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press, an imprint far better known for low sleaze than high art. Nabokov was appalled by the company his book was forced to keep on the Olympia list, and he and Girodias conducted a bitter, litigious feud lasting years. During that time 'Lolita''s reputation grew in direct inverse proportion to its availability. The novel was banned in the UK shortly after publication; the French authorities followed suit at the end of 1956. 'Lolita' finally found an American publisher in 1958, whereupon a newspaper asked the great and the good for their opinions. Groucho Marx declared he wasn't going to read it for six years until Lolita was eighteen. The set conforms exactly to the bibliographical citation in Kearney (1.13.1) with the exception of the presence of a rear blank endpaper in Volume I which is not called for. It's possible that this is a variant, more likely that the endpaper was simply missed during collation.