Most recently we'd come across a collection of antiquarian books, and found ourselves up to our elbows in rare & ratty paperbacks.
Here lies the restless erotica of Henry Miller. Each delicate page from this Obelisk Press release feels sacred. Nervously we photographed a few pages of interest, worried that our very breath might further decay this literary relic. Both Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer were initially banned in the 1930’s —smuggled into the States, and usually seized upon arrival. And, if it weren’t for the women in his life, we imagine this series may have not been published until after his death.
“Last night Boris discovered that he was lousy. I had to shave his armpits and even then the itching did not stop. How can one get lousy in a beautiful place like this? But no matter. We might never have known each other so intimately, Boris and I, had it not been for the lice.”
Henry’s wife, Romanian borne June Mansfield, supported his career by working as a taxi driver in Paris. Yet as time passed, June became hungry for a new companion. Henry absolutely despised his wife's new lover, Jean Kronski (Martha Andrews). But it would also come to pass that Anaïs Nin would ultimately steal June away from Henry, as well. Anaïs once wrote,
“Years ago, when I tried to imagine a pure beauty, I had created an image in my mind of just that woman. I had even imagined she would be Jewish. I knew long ago the color of her skin, her profile, her teeth. Her beauty drowned me. As I sat in front of her I felt that I would do anything she asked of me. Henry faded, she was color, brilliance, strangeness.”
