Sale 2683 - Lot 245

Sale 2683 - Lot 245
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October 15, 2024

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Fine Books

Sale 2683 - Lot 245

Miller, Henry (1891-1980)
Tropic of Cancer, Signed and Inscribed First Edition in a Special Binding.

Paris: The Obelisk Press, 1934.

First edition, octavo, presentation copy inscribed by Miller to an unidentified Joe, likely his longtime friend Joe O'Regan: "To my old friend Joe whom I think of in strange moments and still stranger places and always with deep affection," dated September 1934 at 18 Villa Seurat, Paris; with original first edition paperback wrappers bound in at front and rear; hand bound in full contemporary sheepskin with the iconic cover art etched onto front board decorated, tinted and lettered by hand, white and black printed endpapers featuring a geometric pattern with horses; (scattered stains, lightly toned; expertly rebacked, corners repaired; wrappers trimmed at lower and outer edge barely affecting the notice of prohibited publication in the U.S. and Britain); 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 in.

Miller met O'Regan on a family vacation at Swartswood Lake, New Jersey where they were "sealed in a pact of friendship" after being introduced by another friend of Miller's, Bill Woodruff. O'Regan would accompany Miller to Florida, their experiences appearing in Miller's Gliding into the Everglades. Miller later wrote, "all his life he was dropping in on me--from nowhere it seemed."

(See Henry Miller's Book of Friends. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1976, pp. 81-94.)

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Sale 2683 - Lot 245
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