JAMES, Norah C. ~ Sleeveless Errand.

FIRST PARIS EDITION. Henry Babou and Jack Kahane, Paris: 1929.

Large 8vo., cream cloth-backed decorative black and white boards; spine lettered in black; outer edges untrimmed; together in the original pictorial dustwrapper printed in black and yellow, priced 50 Francs to spine, and featuring a striking design by M. Kahane; THE BOOK very good to near-fine, a little bubbled along the backstrip, with spotting to edges of text block and prelims, and the odd spot throughout; THE WRAPPER very good, panels and spine a little darkened, with some spots and marking; rubbed to folds; some nicks, chips and closed tears to extremties, the longest 3.5cm approx; repaired internally with tape. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First Paris edition, second state, with the wrapper detailing 'The Obelisk Press' as the publisher, and the rear panel carrying four Obelisk titles, the last of which, 'The Well of Loneliness' dates the wrapper from no earlier than May 1933. Indeed, James knew Radclyffe Hall well, and attended the 1928 obscenity trial for 'The Well of Loneliness'. Here, the Arnold Bennett review quoted on the front flap has also been reset, and beneath it now appears 'Entirely unexpurgated edition of the novel that was SIEZED BY THE LONDON POLICE'. The dustwrapper artwork, the same as the first, was provided by the artist Marcelle Kahane (the publisher's wife). The first Paris edition of Norah James' first book, which was banned in the UK shortly after publication. The novel follows Paula, a bohemian jilted by a lover, with an existential itch. She resorts to suicide, forming a pact with a stranger to drive off of a cliff. Though the stranger backs out, Paula proceeds with the plan. Originally printed in London by Scholartis Press, a proof copy of that edition was, as the dustwrapper correctly states, siezed and the publisher was prosecuted by Bow Street Police Court. Of the 750 copies produced, 517 were confiscated before they even hit the shelves, and most of the others were destroyed in the days which followed. Later investigation suggested that the police had been tipped off about the content from the editor of the 'Morning Post', shortly after they had recieved the review copy. It was subsequently printed in Paris that same year by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press. According to one publication, 'Sleeveless Errand' was likely the most surpressed novel ever to be published in England. Every store containing copies was raided, and a guard was posted to stand outside one such location for an entire weekend before the owner could be located to remove it. Even today, no-one has been able to provide an adequate explanation for this reaction, and why it was censored so intensively, although one theory suggests that it was because of one specific word printed in the book. The official basis for the prosecution was that the novel could have a degrading, immoral influence, and 'tended to excite unhealthy passions'. The publication undoubtedly sparked a lively debate concerning censorship, with Arnold Bennett calling it a "merciless exposure of neurotics and decadents" and Garnett defending the apparent blasphemy and promiscuity by comparing it with Hemingway's 'Fiesta', which recieved none of the same treatment. Such drama did nothing to sway James from a literary life, and her subsequent output of novels was prolific. Kahane overestimated demand for the book in 1929 and found himself with piles of unsold copies. These were sold, as here, in the 1930s in the second issue dustwrapper, the revised wording of which claimed the book for the Obelisk Press. A scarce copy of this wonderfully-designed book. (Pearson, Neil ~ Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press, 2007).

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good