Is My Copy of Lolita a First Edition? How to Identify

Lolita has one of the most complicated first edition histories in twentieth-century literature. Published first in Paris by a semi-pornographic press because no American or British publisher would touch it, then banned, then unbanned, then published to enormous success in the United States — the publication journey is as remarkable as the novel itself. Knowing which edition you have requires understanding this history.

The Quick Answer: Two Key Editions

Paris First Edition (The True First)

• Publisher: Olympia Press, Paris
• Date: September 1955
• Format: Two volumes in green paper wrappers
• Print run: ~5,000 copies
• Language: English (published in France but written in English)
• Price: 900 francs per volume (later editions were priced at 1,200 francs)

US First Edition

• Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York
• Date: August 18, 1958
• Format: Single volume, hardcover with dust jacket
• Print run: ~5,000 first printing (reprinted rapidly)
• Price: $5.00

Identifying the 1955 Olympia Press First Edition

Step 1: Format and Binding

The Olympia Press first edition was issued in two separate volumes with green printed paper wrappers (what Americans would call paperback covers). The Olympia Press format was standardized — all their titles used the same green wrapper design with the publisher’s name and the Traveller’s Companion Series numbering.

Step 2: Series Identification

Lolita was published as numbers 66 and 67 in the Traveller’s Companion Series (the Olympia Press series that also published works by Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Henry Miller, and William Burroughs alongside outright pornography — an unusual literary neighborhood).

Step 3: Price Verification

The first printing was priced at Frs 900 per volume (total Frs 1,800 for the set). Later Olympia printings raised the price to Frs 1,200 per volume. The price on the rear wrapper is a key first printing indicator.

Step 4: Publisher’s Address

Olympia Press address: 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris 6e — this appears on the title page and/or wrappers.

Step 5: Copyright Page

“Copyright 1955 by V. Nabokov” with the Olympia Press imprint. No indication of later printings.

Identifying the 1958 Putnam US First Edition

Step 1: Publisher

Title page reads G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.

Step 2: Copyright Page

• “Copyright © 1955 by Vladimir Nabokov” (the 1955 date reflects the Olympia publication)
• First printing indicated by the number line or the absence of later printing statements

Step 3: Dust Jacket

The Putnam first edition dust jacket is distinctive — a relatively restrained design for such a controversial novel. The front flap lists the $5.00 price. The jacket should not reference best-seller status or later printings.

Step 4: Binding

Green cloth boards (the green color echoes the Olympia wrappers, likely deliberately).

What Is My Copy Worth?

Olympia Press First Edition (1955)

The paper wrappers are extremely fragile — they were designed as disposable packaging for what Olympia Press considered a semi-commercial product. Finding copies with intact, unchipped, unfaded wrappers is genuinely difficult.

Putnam US First Edition (1958)

Signed Copies

Nabokov (1899–1977) signed books throughout his later career, particularly after the enormous success of Lolita made him a literary celebrity. He lived in the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland from 1961 until his death, and visitors sometimes obtained signatures. Signed copies are scarce but not impossible.

The Censorship History

The censorship drama affected the first edition’s scarcity:

1. 1955: Published by Olympia Press in Paris. No American or British publisher would accept the manuscript (rejected by Viking, Simon & Schuster, New Directions, Farrar Straus, and Doubleday, among others).
2. 1955–1956: Graham Greene named it one of the three best books of 1955 in The Sunday Times, creating a sensation.
3. December 1956: The French government banned Lolita (at the request of the British government). Copies were seized.
4. 1957: The ban was challenged and eventually lifted.
5. 1958: Putnam published the US edition, which became the fastest-selling novel since Gone with the Wind.

The French ban is significant for collectors because seized copies were destroyed, reducing the surviving population of the Olympia first edition. Copies that crossed into Britain or the US before the ban are the primary survivors.

The Nabokov Collecting Hierarchy

Nabokov’s Russian-language novels (The Defense, Invitation to a Beheading, The Gift) in their original Russian first editions are also collected, though this is a specialist field requiring Russian-language expertise.

Common Confusions

Olympia Press Reprints

Olympia Press reprinted Lolita multiple times after the initial 5,000-copy run. Later printings can be identified by the higher price (Frs 1,200 vs. 900) and sometimes by different wrapper designs or updated publisher addresses.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK, 1959)

The first UK edition was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in November 1959. It is the first hardcover edition in Britain and is collectible ($1,000–$3,000 with jacket), but it is not the first edition.

Corgi and Other Paperbacks

Mass-market paperbacks of Lolita from the late 1950s and 1960s (often with lurid covers designed to capitalize on the scandal) are interesting cultural artifacts and are collected as vintage paperbacks, but they are not first editions.

Practical Authentication

For the Olympia Press edition:

1. Green wrappers — both volumes, numbers 66 and 67 of the Traveller’s Companion Series
2. Price — Frs 900 per volume for first printing
3. Rue de Nesle address
4. 1955 copyright
5. Wrapper condition — assess for repairs, replacement wrappers, or trimming

For the Putnam edition:

1. Publisher identification — Putnam’s Sons
2. Copyright page — first printing indicators
3. Jacket — $5.00 price, no later printing references
4. Green cloth binding

Consult ABAA/ILAB dealers specializing in modern first editions. For the Olympia Press edition, specialists in twentieth-century Paris publishing (Olympia, Obelisk Press, etc.) can provide additional expertise.