The infamous erotic novel The Story of O (Histoire d’O) is the seminal tale of sexual submission that inspired our fragrance LA BAGUE D’O. Written under a pseudonym, it was first published in 1954 but quickly drew legal scrutiny; obscenity laws curtailed further editions until 1967. Even so daring publishers such as Olympia and Grove published their editions.

This is the First US hardcover edition released by Grove Press in 1965, the book’s first official appearance in the American market. Wrapped in a minimal, white dustcover, the edition includes a translator’s note (by Richard Seaver under the pen name Sabine d’Estrée), and ‘A Note on Story of O’ by critic and collector of erotica André Pieyre de Mandiargues, along with the dark, fatalistic ‘second ending’ that Réage wrote after the novel’s initial publication.

This edition also contains a 1966 New York Times newspaper article on the book, alongside an ad for this same edition.