Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 03, 2007
A fortune in rare books
BY PRADEEP SEBASTIAN
| In “Nabokov’s Butterfly”, Gekoski tells the stories of 20 rare books that passed through his hands. |
Recognised for his distinction in the field, he was made a judge for the 2007 Man Booker prize: the first book dealer to be on the panel.
Lore on rare books: Rick Gekoski.
IN 1988, rare book dealer Rick Gekoski offered the First English edition of Lolita in his catalogue for £3,250. A few weeks later, Graham Greene wrote to him, saying, “Dear Mr. Gekoski, If your copy of Lolita, which isn’t even the true first edition, is worth £3,250, how much is the original Paris edition inscribed to me worth?”
The Olympia Press Lolita is a great edition and a copy inscribed by Nabokov to Greene was special for many reasons. “Dear Mr. Greene,” wrote back Gekoski, “More. Would you care to sell it?” Greene already own ed another first edition, also inscribed by Nabokov, and felt he could sell the Olympia edition. Gekoski bought it for £4,000. He opened the book and read the inscription,‘For Graham Greene from Vladimir Nabokov, November 8, 1959’. It was followed by a drawing of a large green butterfly.
By the next morning, Gekoski had sold it to a rich book collector (Bernie Taupin, Elton John’slong-time lyricist) for £9,000. The moment it had gone out of his hands he felt bad. He had wanted to keep it with him. In 1992, Gekoski traced the book and bought it back for £13,000. After owning itfor a short while, he sold it again to a book collector. In 2002, the book appeared at a Christie’ssale and sold for an astounding $264,000.
We know Greene’s part in getting Swami and Friends published. From Gekoski’s short but entertaining book, Nabokov’s Butterfly and Other Stories of Great Author and Rare Books, we learn it was Gre ene who brought Lolita to the notice of a reading public when he chose it as his best book of the year in 1955. Lolita had been fairly obscure till then since it had been published by Maurice Girodias in Paris, who&# 8217;s Obelisk Press usually published classy pornography.
In Nabokov’s Butterfly, Gekoski tells the stories of 20 rare books that passed through his hands. The lore on rare books is delightful but equally fascinating is his short publishing history of each book.
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Eventually, the book dealer had to return most of the material to Salinger. (In exchange, Gekoski wanted Salinger to inscribe his first edition of Catcher in the Rye. Salinger refused, of course.) But there were a few letters he sol d to private collectors and libraries for a small profit. Rick Gekoski was also one of the publishers included in the fatwa against Rushdie but that’s a story I’ll let you read in the book. There are more stories of rare books in Nabokov’s Butterfly. There is one even about the Harry Potter books. Apparently the bookshop Gekoski owns in London stocks only 50 books. But each is worth a fortune.