Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Miller, Henry. The Colossus of Maroussi. Colt Press, 1941.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, limited to one of 100 signed. Oatmeal cloth and pictorial cover. Spine label is dulled. Some wear and rubbing along edges. Clean interior except for tears on pages 4 and 6. Jackson A 26A
Seller: Route 3 Books, Sandstone, MN, U.S.A.
Miller, Henry.. The Colossus of Maroussi.. San Francisco: Colt Press, [1941]., 1941.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo. [4], 244 pp. Quarter heavy-weave linen cloth over aqua floral-decorated boards, printed paper spine label. Spine label faded and spotted, light dampstains on front and back boards, never extending to text. Donor's inscription on front free endpaper. A good, tight copy Though unstated, this is one of 100 copies, signed by the author on the third blank leaf. Issued without dust wrapper.
Seller: Michael R. Thompson Books, A.B.A.A., Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Miller, Henry. The Colossus of Maroussi. Colt Press, 1941.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First trade edition of one of Miller's better written books. Wear and darkening to cloth and spine. Label is dulled. Inscribed and dated by Miller in 1942. Interior is clean, Jacket and spine are darkened. Chips and tears at edges and corners with large chunk missing from top of spine and a smaller strip from bottom of spine. See pictures. Early signature. Jackson A 26B
Seller: Route 3 Books, Sandstone, MN, U.S.A.
Miller, Henry. The Colossus of Maroussi. Colt Press, San Francisco, 1941.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Uncommon first edition/first printing (ref. A26b of Shifreen & Jackson biblio) of what is generally considered Miller's best book; inscribed by the author (Miller) in ink on the front free end page and dated 12/4/41 in N.Y.C - just 3 days before Pearl Harbor and America's entry into WWII. The book recounts Miller's pre-war travel in Greece in 1939. Blue cloth hardcover boards with beige label on the spine with black lettering. Boards with heavy wear and age toning; edges frayed; pages with light age toning; binding generally sound and complete. Photos available upon request.
Seller: Hudson River Book Shoppe, Waldwick, NJ, U.S.A.
Miller, Henry. The Colossus of Maroussi.. Colt Press, New York, 1941.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: True first edition of the author's landmark travel book and frequently cited as one of his finest. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, "To Tania and Jimmy, from their good friend, Henry Miller, N.Y., 12/3/41." The recipients were James and Tania Stern, close friends of the author. Very good in the rare original dust jacket, which is in very good condition with some rubbing and wear. Like the ancient colossus that stood over the harbor of Rhodes, Henry Millerâs The Colossus of Maroussi stands as a seminal classic in travel literature. It has preceded the footsteps of prominent travel writers such as Pico Iyer and Rolf Potts. The book Miller would later cite as his favorite began with a young womanâs seductive description of Greece. Miller headed out with his friend Lawrence Durrell to explore the Grecian countryside: a flock of sheep nearly tramples the two as they lie naked on a beach; the Greek poet Katsmbalis, the âcolossusâ of Millerâs book, stirs every rooster within earshot of the Acropolis with his own loud crowing; cold hard-boiled eggs are warmed in a villageâs single stove, and they stay in hotels that âhave seen better days, but which have an aroma of the past.â
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. This non-pornographic piece must have disappointed publishers anticipating something more lurid from Miller after his "Tropic of Cancer" because ten New York publishers rejected it before Colt Press accepted it with an advance of only 100 USD [Shifreen & Jackson A26b]. INSCRIBED -- "TO TAMAR, THE FLAMING MEDEA OF BIG SUR WHO IMPROVISES 'UNITS' AND ISLANDS OF FOG AND SEA ANEMONES. HENRY MILLER. 4/2/44." The recipient is, perhaps, Robinson Jeffers who, though not a friend of Miller's, was a fellow inhabitant of Big Sur and whose most famous poem is titled "Tamar." Or more likely, though a bit disturbingly, it is perhaps inscribed to Tamar Nais Hodel, who was named for the poem and was the young daughter of Miller's friend and fellow inhabitant of Big Sur, Dr. George Hill Hodel -- a suspect in the infamous 1947 "Black Dahlia" murder and mutilation of Elizabeth Short. Tamar Hodel would have been around 9 years old at the time of the inscription, a tender young age to receive an inscribed book from a friend of ones father. But this was a father who allowed Man Ray to take nude pictures of her when she was 11 years old and whom she accused at 14 of sexual molesting her beginning when she was 11. (He was acquitted and fled the country soon after.) Name at base of front endpaper, cloth at spine ends and corners slightly frayed, general light cover wear, front hinge repaired where previously loose otherwise good to very good, lacking original dust jacket but with facsimile provided. MYSTERIOUS INSCRIPTION
Seller: Quill & Brush, member ABAA, Middletown, MD, U.S.A.