A first trade edition of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel, published in London in 1959 in the first single-volume format. The very first copies of the book were printed in two softcover volumes in Paris in 1955, and then banned by the French government a year later. It was then published in the US and the UK several years later. Nabokov wrote the book in English – the novel was not published in Russian until 1967. First edition, first impression. Published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson. Hardback, with original dust jacket, not price-clipped. In very good condition, with minor edgewear and small chip to base of jacket spine. Clean inside with no writing or bookplates.