Lolita (New York, 1958)

This second edition has a very different cover, but is also from a different time and place. It was published only three years after the first edition in 1958 in New York. The contrast between this cover and the Dutch cover from 1978 is immense. This time, the publisher did not choose a depiction of the book, but merely text. It is more vibrant and colorful than the original cover, but it is closer to the original than the previous one. A few things stand out. For example, this cover names another work by Nabokov: by the author of Pnin. This cover does not allude to any sexuality in the story at all, but rather to the oeuvre and fame of the author. So how does this cover respond to the possible controversy of Lolita? Well, just like the previous one, it does not show any of the controversy. But it is also not trying to hide it by alluding to an adult romance. Another point of interest is the text at the bottom: complete and unabridged. This, of course, suggests that there are editions that have been abridged; some publishers did not agree with the content of the book and therefore changed it.

So what does this say about the USA in 1958? Was there already a need for an edition that assured the reader that no changes were made? If this is the case, then over the course of three years ideological standpoints from publishers regarding this book had changed immensely. This publisher may have felt the desire to make such controversy open to discussion, or at least available to read. In any case, this is the cover that the publisher, as a visual translator for the story of Lolita, thought was the best way to bring the story across to the cultural climate of New York in the late 1950s.