"All the way
From the land
Of Kerry
Is a man
From the dead
Gone Merry.

This man
Stood in the street
And stamped his feet
And no one heard him."

J.P. Donleavy from
The Ginger Man

Editions from 1955 - 1959

To purchase books by
J.P. Donleavy go to the
JPD Buyers' Directory

For reviews of this title
go to JPD Book Reviews

The Ginger Man

Wraps | Olympia Press, Paris 1955 - 353 pages
 
True first edition and first unexpurgated edition. Turned
down by dozens of  publishers for what was considered
explicit sex at the time, Donleavy turned to Maurice Girodias's
Olympia Press in a more liberal France who had published
other "unpublishable" works by Beckett, Miller, and other
authors of literary merit who refused to edit to appease censors.
Thinking he would be among these other notable authors,
Donleavy was shocked to see his book published in Girodias's
sideline porn "Traveler's Companion Series" along with other
titles such as Rape; School for Sin; and The Whip Angels.
Donleavy's struggles to get legitimate editions published and
 the subsequent copyright battles with Girodias are chronicled
in his autobiography The History of The Ginger Man.

If you have information
about other editions of
this title, including non-
English language editions,
please email the JPDC
to add it to the bibliography.
All contributors will be
given credit here on
the site.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | Neville Spearman, London 1956 - 292 pages
 
1st UK and first hardcover edition, expurgated by Donleavy
to meet British censorship standards, the one and only time
Donleavy ever compromised a work because of censorship,
so great was his desire to disassociate his book with the
"Traveler's Companion" edition and gain serious merit
as an author.

Differs from later printings by having a blank, white back
on the dust jacket. All Spearman editions have an introduction
by Arland Ussher.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | Neville Spearman, London 1957 - 292 pages
 
2nd printing of the Spearman edition. Back of dust jacket
contains a grainy photo of Donleavy and several favorable
review blurbs.

Special thanks to
John Baxter
in Paris for sharing
his expertise
of The Olympia Press
and providing the JPDC
with this
scarce edition.

According to John,
Girodias's claim that only
500 of these hardcover
Ginger Man editions were
issued may well be true as
it was a common practice
for Girodias to print in
small quantities with many
different printers to stretch
his credit.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | The Olympia Press, Paris 1958 - 382  pages
 
To compete with the Spearman edition in the UK, Girodias
published a slightly expurgated edition of the original version,
which contains a diatribe against Donleavy and Spearman on
the dust jacket flaps, calling Donleavy a copyright-breaking crook
and urging readers not to purchase the Spearman edition but this
one, saying it's much more intact and therefore better. 

This variant of the Olympia hardcover edition is the rarest
of all Ginger Man editions.

Because of legal action
taken by Donleavy to
stop the slander being
spread by Girodias on
the flaps of the above
edition, Girodias replaced
the original flaps with
"cancels" containing
review blurbs, some,
ironically from the very
Spearman edition that he
originally lambasted.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | The Olympia Press, Paris 1958 - 382  pages
 
Variant edition with review "cancels" replacing the original
dust jacket flaps. It is this version that Girodias shipped
to the UK to compete with the Spearman edition. Alas, British
customs agents, seeing the title and publisher information
took it to be the banned version and destroyed the shipment.
Years later, a former storage warehouse that had belonged to
Girodias changed hands, and in it were discovered many
overruns of Olympia Press titles, including a small amount
of this variant of the Olympia hardcover edition. It is mostly
these copies that are now offered for sale by various dealers.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | McDowell, Obolensky, New York 1958 - 327 pages
 
First US edition, containing the same introduction and
expurgated content of the UK Spearman edition.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | McDowell, Obolensky, New York 1958
- 327 pages
 
2nd McDowell, Obolensky printing. Other than
2nd printing stated on front end paper, identical to
first printing.

No photo yet:
edition being sought.

No photo yet:
edition being sought.

The Ginger Man

Wraps | McDowell, Obolensky, New York
1958  - 327 pages
 
1st US paperback edition, with same expurgated content
as 1st US hardcover edition by same publisher.
Scarce edition.

The Ginger Man

Wraps | McDowell, Obolensky, New York
1958 - 327 pages
 
Second McDowel, Obolensky paperback printing,
1958. No month given

The Ginger Man

Cloth | Astor-Honor, New York, 1958
- ISBN 083921037X
 
Scarce edition. Will add more information
when found.

The Ginger Man

Wraps | Astor-Honor, New York, 1958
- ISBN 083925007X
 
Another scarce edition. Will add more information
when found.

The Ginger Man

Wraps | Berkely Medallion, New York,
Aug. 1959 - 286 pages
 
1st US mass market paperback edition,
again expurgated.

The Ginger Man

Wraps | Berkely Medallion, New York,
Aug. 1959 - 286 pages
 
2nd. Berkely Medallion printing.
Expurgated.

The Ginger Man

Cloth | Neville Spearman, London,
1959 - 292 pages
 
3rd. Spearman printing.
Identical to 2nd printing, save printing history.