(LGBTQ). The Well of Loneliness

Item Details

1928

First, Very Good

First edition, second issue (stated “First Published MCMXXVIII”), published London: Jonathan Cape, 1928. Octavo. 512 pp. VG, light foxing.  Finely bound in later full leather, with gilt spine lettering and floral devices in compartments, raised bands, top edge gilt, and marbled endpapers. Original spine retained, bound in at end. With the publisher’s original half-title and title pages present, but without the prefatory note by sexologist Havelock Ellis & with “Whips” corrected on p. 50. Hall’s groundbreaking novel—considered the first openly lesbian novel in English literature—was swiftly banned in the U.K. upon publication. A landmark of queer literary history, here presented in a modern leather binding.