Ladies in the Parlor
New York: Greenberg: Publisher, 1935.
Signed first edition. [vii], 245 pp. Pinkish red cloth with navy lettering. Fair or a little better, lacking jacket, with staining to cloth, spine sunned, front corner chewed, front and rear hinges repaired with glue, some marginal pinpricks and creased corners. With a lengthy inscription by Jim Tully late in life, meditating on this thoroughly censored and banned book about brothels, "6/26/42 For Louis and Bess Cochran -- and their new home, who will have understanding for the gals in this book -- suppressed in a free land [?] by those who might dreamt [?] -- to the impure -- al things are impure. One critic said that no man of talent ever wrote so Bad a Book -- and yet it was suppressed in the words of whitman I say of such gals -- not [three illegible words] excludes you will I exclude [?] you [signed] Jim Tully June 1942." On the facing page he wrote, "Suppressed by Comstock, New York City, only 900 copies printed." He also added Carl Sandburg's name to the dedication page quote. Quite uncommon signed.
A novel (hailed by H.L. Mencken as the author's best) about prostitution and poverty in the American midwest, written by the author of hobo-novel-par-excellence Beggars of Life. After a single printing the book was officially declared "obscene." Unlike other banned books from this period such as Lillian Smith's Strange Fruit it was effectively suppressed. Copies were destroyed by police and the book was forgotten.
Price: $700.00