Walking Paris with Henry Miller

Sky Blue Press has announced the publication of a facsimile of Anaïs Nin’s 1939 novel, The Winter of Artifice. This is the original, uncensored Obelisk Press edition that has not been in print for over sixty years:

Not to be confused with other Nin books titled Winter of Artifice, which have dramatically different contents, these novellas that draw on Nin’s own experiences are occasionally so graphic in detail that the book was, according to Nin, banned in America.

The original edition of The Winter of Artifice contained three novellas—Djuna, Lilith and The Voice. Djuna has never before been reprinted and the two other stories were altered in later publications.

Nin set the type for the 1939 edition by hand on her own printing press and publication costs were covered by Lawrence Durrell. “As I walk down the Villa Seurat with my red Russian dress, I feel in love with the world again, in love with the whole world,” an elated Nin wrote in her diary after signing the book contract with Jack Kahane. Sadly, The Winter of Artifice was to be the last book that The Obelisk Press ever published as Kahane died that same year at the outbreak of WWII.

The publication is a limited edition of 500 copies which are available at $48.95. A special collectors’ edition of 25 copies is also available at $100. Pre-orders are being taken now for an October release.

Sky Blue Press is also the publisher of A Café in Space: The Anaïs Nin Literary Journal, which is an excellent resource for information about Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller and the Villa Seurat circle.

More background information on the original publication of The Winter of Artifice can be found here.

Posted September 11, 2007 - trackback