Typed letter signed by Vladimir Nabokov.
$7,500 · Offered by Biblio
First edition · Signed
Los Angeles, CA: Unpublished, 1960. Book. Near fine condition. Unbound. Signed by Author(s). Quarto (4to). One page typed letter, dated August 28, 1960, signed by Vladimir Nabokov. The letter is addressed to Pyke Johnson, Jr. at Doubleday Company, Inc. The purpose and content of the letter is to return a $2,500 advance the publisher had paid Nabokov a few years earlier, and to cancel the April 8, 1957 contract concerning plans to write Pale Fire. Included is typed response by Johnson, confirming the cancellation of the contract and asking if it is possible to perform future Russian translations for Doubleday. In Nabokov s cancellation letter, he states ...I am not sure that I shall ever go back to the book I had been planning under this title. However, Nabokov promptly returned to the title, which he reportedly wrote in 1960-61, after the success of Lolita had made him financially independent. The first American edition of Lolita was issued by G. P. Putnam s Sons in August 1958. The book was into a third printing within days and became the first since Gone with the Wind to sell 100,000 copies in its first three weeks. Pale Fire was issued by G. P. Putnam s Sons in 1962. Many consider Pale Fire to be Nabokov s magnum opus. It s unusual structure has attracted much attention, and it is often cited as an important example of metafiction, as well as an analog precursor to hypertext fiction, and is a poioumenon. .
- Publisher: Unpublished
- Year: 1960
- Edition: First Edition
- Binding: Paperback
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