Books

8vo, original pale green cloth. Inch in diameter stain to bottom edge of front cover of Tropic of Cancer, covers somewhat soiled, otherwise a good copy, without dust jacket as issued; enclosed in a half-morocco folding box. Inch in diameter stain to bottom edge of front cover of Tropic of Cancer, covers somewhat soiled, otherwise a good copy, without dust jacket as issued; enclosed in a half-morocco folding box. An extraordinary copy, in effect the dedication copy. First American edition, designated by Shifreen & Jackson as the "Eighth Edition/First American Edition/Medusa Edition. 1000 copies printed, with an overrun of 200-500. "Before printing, Gershon Legman added the colophon "Imprenta de México, 1940" "for fun" and to direct attention from the 25th Street New York place of publication since the book was banned from the United States at the time." - Shifreen & Jackson A9j. Miller's dear friend Emil Schnellock's copy, with a full-page inscription by Miller to Schnellock on the front free endpaper: "Fredericksburg, VA, Dear Emil, I don't remember the original dedication but this will do - like Shakespeare's horse you talk about - "for all time". To my friend Emil who standing on a street corner pushed me into that world I always wanted to see and finally saw. Hallelujah! Henry, 12/1/44." There are pencil notes in the text, but they appear to us to be in Schnellock's hand. Miller and Schnellock met as schoolboys at P.S. No. 85 in Brooklyn, class of 1905 - "a standing joke between them, as the letters show . . . They then went to different high schools and lost sight of each other for many years, during which Schnellock traveled and studied in Europe. Thus, when a chance encounter brought them together again in 1921, Miller regarded his old friend with awe, marveling that an ordinary Brooklyn boy should have become an accomplished artist and cosmopolite. That encounter, as Miller frequently remarked, had a decisive influence on his life." - Introduction, Letters to Emil, p. vii. It is that "decisive moment" that Miller alludes to in his inscription. Accompanied by one of Schnellock's notebooks, with drawings and text, and a copy of Letters to Emil. Edited by George Wickes (London: Carcanet, 1990), which comprises Miller's voluminous correspondence with Schnellock from 1922-1934, a project that Miller had conceived in 1938: "In September 1938 Henry Miller announced, among other works in preparation, a book called "Letters to Emil" to be published in the Villa Seurat Series that he was then editing for the Obelisk Press in Paris. The letters . . . had recently been assembled and transcribed; only the task of editing remained. . . . what with the distractions of the Munich Crisis, his struggles with Tropic of Capricorn, his visit to Greece, and the outbreak of the war, he never got around to editing the letters." - Introduction, Letters to Emil, p. vii.

Tropic of Cancer is a semi-autobiographical novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1934. It is widely considered an important work of 20th-century literature, noted for its candid portrayal of Miller's life, its potently individualistic voice, and its frank discussions of sexuality, which have led to legal battles and debates about censorship.