Olympia Press

Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebadged version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic novels and avant-garde literary works, and is best known for the first print of Nabokov's Lolita.

Related Topics:
Paris - Publisher - 1953 - Maurice Girodias - Obelisk Press - Jack Kahane - Erotic novels - Avant-garde - Literary - Nabokov - Lolita

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Most, if not all, Olympia Press publications were promoted and packaged as "Traveller's Companion" books, usually with simple text-only covers, and each book in the series was numbered.

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Olympia Press was also the first publisher willing to print the controversial William S. Burroughs novel, Naked Lunch. Other notable works included J. P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man; the French trilogy Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable by Samuel Beckett; and Story of O by Pauline Réage.

Related Topics:
William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch - J. P. Donleavy - The Ginger Man - French - Samuel Beckett - Story of O - Pauline Réage

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Girodias had troubled dealings with his authors including copyright issues; Nabokov was not satisfied with the publisher and its reputation, and another long-running dispute over the rights to The Ginger Man ended with Donleavy buying out Girodias at auction. Girodias briefly reestablished Olympia Press in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Related Topics:
U.S. - 1960s

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A number of publishers would later print compilations of Olympia's most popular works, including material by Burroughs. One of the best known collections is The Best of Olympia, published by New English Library in 1966.

Related Topics:
New English Library - 1966

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An unrelated modern publisher of erotic books, based in the Isle of Wight, trades as Olympia Press Ltd.

Related Topics:
Isle of Wight - Olympia Press Ltd

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