Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome was first written for the August 1959 issue of Esquire magazine, then swiftly released in book form to capitalise on the fame of both author and subject. In this UK First Edition, printed in softback by André Deutsch Ltd, De Beauvoir’s essay is transformed into a photo book, with glossy black and white images of Bardot filling almost every page. This edition also includes a newspaper article from the Daily Express, Tuesday the 9th September 1958, reporting Bardot’s engagement. It must have been owned by a true Bardot fan.

Almost a prototype of the cultural criticism that now fills Substack, de Beauvoir reads Bardot not as an actress but as a sign of changing times – youth, sex, and freedom distilled into a single star image.