''My Life and Loves'' is the autobiography of the Ireland-born, naturalized-American writer and editor

Frank Harris Frank Harris (14 February 1855 – 26 August 1931) was an Irish-American editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United State ...

(1856–1931). As published privately by Harris between 1922 and 1927, and by

Jack Kahane Jack Kahane (20 July 1887, in Manchester – 2 September 1939, in Paris) was a writer and publisher who founded the Obelisk Press in Paris in 1929. He was the son of Selig and Susy Kahane, both immigrants from Romania. Kahane, a novelist, began th ...

Obelisk Press Obelisk Press was an English-language press based in Paris, founded by British publisher Jack Kahane in 1929. Manchester-born novelist Kahane began the Obelisk Press after his publisher, Grant Richards, went bankrupt. Going into partnership with ...

in 1931, the work consisted of four volumes, illustrated with many drawings and photographs of nude women. The book gives a graphic account of Harris's sexual adventures and relates gossip about the sexual activities of celebrities of his day. The work was banned in both the United States and Britain for 40 years. It first became available in America in 1963. At one time it was sold in Paris for more than $100. Contemporary and historic figures discussed frequently in the book include

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabet ...

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Cons ...

Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...

, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Lord Folkestone,

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

George Meredith George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. ''The Ord ...

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

, Byron Caldwell Smith,

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, and many others.

Table of contents, volume 1

Foreword

The foreword begins, "Here in the blazing heat of an American August, amid the hurry and scurry of New York, I sit down to write my final declaration of Faith, as a preface or foreword to the Story of my Life."

Chapters

*Chapter I. *Chapter II. LIFE IN AN ENGLISH GRAMMAR SCHOOL. *Chapter III. SCHOOL DAYS IN ENGLAND. *Chapter IV. FROM SCHOOL TO AMERICA. *Chapter V. THE GREAT NEW WORLD! *Chapter VI. LIFE IN CHICAGO! *Chapter VII. THE GREAT FIRE OF CHICAGO. *Chapter VIII. ON THE TRAIL! *Chapters IX. STUDENT LIFE AND LOVE. *Chapter X. SOME STUDY, MORE LOVE. *Chapter XI. MY FIRST VENUS. *Chapter XII. HARD TIMES AND NEW LOVES. *Chapter XIII. NEW EXPERIENCES. *Chapter XIV. WORK AND SOPHY. *Chapter XV. EUROPE AND THE CARLYLES.

Additional volume

In the early 1950s, Harris's widow Nellie sold about a hundred pages of his writings on further autobiographical matters to Kahane's son

Maurice Girodias Maurice Girodias (12 April 1919 – 3 July 1990) was a French publisher who founded the Olympia Press, specialising in risqué books, censored in Britain and America, that were permitted in France in English-language versions only. It evol ...

for a million French francs. Girodias gave the task of producing something publishable from them to

Alexander Trocchi Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi ( ; 30 July 1925 – 15 April 1984) was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of I ...

, and described the result as having only 20% of its content derived from the nominal source material. It was published by Girodias's

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is bes ...

in 1954 as ''My Life and Loves: Fifth Volume''.James Campbell
''Exiled in Paris Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank''
pp. 146-147

Grove Press omnibus edition

John F. Gallagher edited, and provided annotations for, a new omnibus edition, ''My Life and Loves: Five Volumes in One/Complete and Unexpurgated'', published by

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

in 1963.''My Life and Loves: Five Volumes in One/Complete and Unexpurgated'', Frank Harris, edited and with an introduction by John F. Gallagher. New York: Grove Press, 1963. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-16996 This edition contained no illustrations. Gallagher described the Trocchi version as "apparently not authentic".

James Campbell James Campbell may refer to: Academics * James Archibald Campbell (1862–1934), founder of Campbell University in North Carolina * James Marshall Campbell (1895–1977), dean of the college of arts and sciences at the Catholic University of Ameri ...

, comparing the two editions' fifth volumes, does however argue that Girodias's 20% figure was too low.

References

External links

* ''My Life and Loves''
Vol. 1

(The Jack Horntip Collection) * ''My Life and Loves''
Archive.org, "Privately printed 1922, address the author, I Rue du Helder: Paris"
{{wikisource Literary autobiographies Erotic literature 1922 non-fiction books 1954 non-fiction books 1963 non-fiction books American memoirs Self-published books Obelisk Press books