What Are You Going to Do About Alf?
A10a 1935 FIRST EDITION
Soft blue-gray wrappers
Published October 1935, and distributed without charge.
Note: Alf was financed by Miller with royalties from Tropic of Cancer. Text is printed in blue ink.
A10b 1938 SECOND EDITION
Soft blue-gray wrappers
Published June 1938, at 5 francs.
Note: Different colophons, as well as the addition of the Foreword distinguishes this Second Edition from the First. Miller's name is signed in the First Edition but printed in this Second. Text is printed in blue ink.
A10c 1944 FIRST BERN PORTER EDITION
Soft white wrappers. Yellow dust jacket
Published in May 1944, at $1.00, in an edition of 738 copies.
Note: In the October 1945 issue of The Book Collector No. 2, Bern Porter wrote, "Through circumstances and officials better left anonymous, I was forced to either burn the entire 738 copies or cover 14 individual words by hand, two days after publication."
Of 7 copies inspected the actual number of words censored included: 9, 10, 13, 14, and 16, with words like "pimp," "whoring," and the first syllable of "pissgeld" censored only at times. Porter described this book as Miller's "first self-illustrated book."
A10d 1944 UNCENSORED FIRST BERN PORTER VERSION
Same as A10c.
Published in May 1944, in an edition of 11 copies.
Note: In correspondence with the compilers, Bern Porter indicated there was an 11 copy edition in which no words were censored.
A10e 1971 FIRST TURRET LIMITED EDITION
Black cloth boards. Black dust jacket illustrated in silver on the front with a watercolor by Henry Miller: "one of my more interesting failures / Henry Miller = Paris = 26 / 1967"
Published in 1971, in an edition of 350 copies, of which 100 have been numbered and signed.
Note: This is a facsimile reprint of Bern Porter's 1944 edition and includes a new Preface by Henry Miller and an original Epilogue written by Alfred Perlés. Pages [3-6] of this edition are a dark blue paper with the illustration on page [4] in light blue.
A10f 1971 FIRST TURRET TRADE EDITION
Same as A10e.
Published in 1971, in an edition of 250 copies.
A10g 1971 FIRST WALTON EDITION
Red cloth boards. Clear wax paper wrapper.
Published in November 1971, at $7.50, in an edition of 250 copies.
Note: A reprint of Porter's 1944 edition with two changes: The frontispiece illustration by Miller, "Alf in Ibiza" was not reproduced, and a four word statement "Always merry and bright" by Miller is titled "MESSAGE FOR THE PACIFIC PALISADES EDITION" and appears on page 7. Note misspelling of the word "FOREWORD" as "FOREWARD" on p. 5 of this edition. This and other Walton Press editions of Miller's work were published by Bern Porter.
A10h 1971 VARIANT FIRST WALTON EDITION
Bright orange cloth boards. Clear wax paper wrapper.
Published in November 1971, at $7.50.
Note: This edition is identical to A10g except it is bound in orange cloth boards.
Any questions about Miller's book, corrections or new variations. Please email to:
washley@pacbell.net
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