Books

First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the first blank, "To Huntingdon Cairns, with all best wishes - in remembrance of pleasant days in Paris. Henry Miller 8/36". As the United States Censor in the 1930s and 40s, Cairns declared the author's first four novels obscene and banned them from the US. Cairns (1904-1985) was appointed the official US Censor in the Customs Bureau by the Secretary of the Treasury in 1934. One of his first acts in that role was to reluctantly ban Miller's first novel, Tropic of Cancer, due to its pornographic content. As well as an assiduous lawyer, Cairns was a sensitive reader, a writer of essays and book reviews, and friends to several literary figures in his Baltimore circle. One of these, the critic H. L. Mencken, received a contraband copy of Tropic of Cancer from Miller, which he forwarded to Cairns. "Informed by Mencken that Cairns had read and admired Cancer, Miller wrote to Cairns in May 1936 announcing the imminent publication of another controversial book, Black Spring, and offering to send it to him. A few months later, Cairns and his wife, Florence, were in Paris, and the two men met" (Hoyle 2014). There, Miller presented Cairns with this copy, which Cairns read while traveling back to the US. He wrote to Miller on his return: "It filled me with admiration. I know of no other writer who is more naturally a novelist or who writes anything approaching your power" (quoted in Hoyle 2017). Following their meeting, Cairns became one of Miller's most committed advocates and worked to obtain favorable reviews for his writing, hoping to raise his profile as a serious novelist. Despite his efforts, Black Spring was not published in the US until 1963. The two men nevertheless enjoyed a friendly correspondence for more than 25 years, Miller writing to Cairns in 1939 that "I consider you, along with Emil Schnellock, my two American friends" (quoted in Hoyle 2017). This is the first issue, priced 50 francs on the front flap and rear wrapper. READ MORE Octavo. Original orange wrappers printed in red, front wrapper illustration by Maurice Kahane, edges untrimmed. Wraps and contents toned, as often, minimal rubbing to extremities, a near-fine copy. Arthur Hoyle, The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur, 2014; idem, "'My Friend the Censor': Henry Miller, Huntington Cairns, and Tropic of Cancer", Empty Mirror, 18 March 2017, available online.

A collection of short stories and vignettes that explore life, philosophy, and the human condition through Miller's unique lens.