Laughter in the Dark
$10,000 · Offered by Biblio
Signed
New York: Signet Books, 1950. First Signet paperback edition, inscribed on the first page, with additional notation on cover. 8vo. Illustrated color wrappers; edge wear, bumping, and minor soiling overall; spine sunned, with small loss at tail; interior pages tanned; first two pages separated but present. First Signet paperback edition, inscribed on the first page, with additional notation on cover. 8vo. Originally serialized as Camera Obscura in the Paris-based expatriate Russian literary journal Sovremennye zapiski from 1932-33, this dark, ultimately tragic psychological novella - considered a precursor to Lolita - was not published in English until 1936, when it was issued in London by Hutchinson & Co.'s John Long imprint. However, Nabokov was so dissatisfied with the quality of Winifred Roy's translation that he undertook redoing it himself for the American edition, which was published in 1938 by Bobbs-Merrill under a new title, Laughter in the Dark. This copy is the first Signet paperback edition, complete with a classic mid-century cover illustration. It is also inscribed by Nabokov in ink at the top of the first page - captioned as "Two Statements on Nabokov" - to Joan Peterson, the wife of his first cousin Peter: "for Joan / from Vladimir [Nabokov, printed name, circled] / Ithaca / 1938." He additionally noted "written in 1928" in pencil on the front wrapper. At the time of publication (1950), Nabokov was teaching at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and his notation
- Publisher: Signet Books
- Year: 1950
- Edition: First Signet paperback edition, inscribed on the first page, wit
- Binding: unknown
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