Nabokov's controversial novel was rejected by American publishers, but was finally accepted by the avant-garde Olympia Press in Paris and published in this two-volume edition. The novel was first brought to a wider English public by Graham Greene who selected it as one of his books of the year in an article in the Sunday Times newspaper. In 1956, John Gordon, editor of the Sunday Express, responded by calling it 'the filthiest book I have ever read. Sheer unrestrained pornography', thus ensuring its enduring notoriety, and a ban in America and Britain until 1958.

First edition, second issue; 2 vols, 8vo; publisher's green, white and black printed wrappers, light wear to spine tips and corners, faint finger soiling to rear wrappers, one corner crease, with the stickers (chipped on vol.II) altering the price to '1200 Francs' affixed to the rear covers, a very good set.