venture west one more time: VNAY, pp. 223–226.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote a note: Page-a-Day Diary, 1953, Berg.
“a novel I would be able to finish”: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, June 15, 1951.
“crumpling each old manuscript sheet”: VNAY, p. 225.
“enormous, mysterious, heartbreaking novel”: Letter from Nabokov to Katharine White, September 29, 1953.
when Nabokov wrote to Edmund Wilson: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, 1947.
The first time was in the fall of 1948: Schiff, Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), p. 166.
“Véra came to the rescue”: Roper, Nabokov in America, p. 149.
“one day in 1950”: Interview with Nabokov by Herbert Gold, Paris Review 41 (Fall 1957), reprinted in Nabokov, Strong Opinions, p. 105.
Lolita was ready to be submitted: VNAY, pp. 255–267.
Edmund Wilson read half: Letter from Edmund Wilson to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.
grew “negative and perplexed”: Letter from Mary McCarthy to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.
Wilson’s present wife, Elena: Letter from Elena Wilson to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.
parody piece in the New Yorker: Dorothy Parker, “Lolita,” New Yorker, August 27, 1955, p. 32.
Nabokov joked to Edmund Wilson: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, February 19, 1955.
founder and publisher of Olympia Press: Account is drawn in large part from John De St. Jorre, Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press and Its Writers.
submitted Lolita to Girodias: VNAY, p. 265.
As Nabokov later recalled: “Lolita and Mr. Girodias,” Evergreen Review 45 (1967), reprinted in Nabokov, Strong Opinions.
Nabokov received a letter from Walter Minton: Letter to Nabokov from Walter Minton, August 30, 1957, reprinted in Selected Letters: 1940–1977, pp. 224–225.
had succeeded his father, Melville: “Walter Minton on the House ‘Lolita’ Built,” New Yorker, January 8, 2018.
“I thought Nabokov had”: “The Lolita Case,” Time, November 17, 1958.
he had all but given up: Letter from Nabokov to Walter Minton, December 23, 1957.
Lolita had been banned in France: VNAY, pp. 310–315.
Minton’s letter augured a change: Letter from Nabokov to Walter Minton, September 7, 1957; letter from Véra Nabokov to Minton, September 19, 1957; De St. Jorre, Venus Bound, p. 144.
‘“Don’t ever open your mouth’”: Undated interview with Walter Minton by John De St. Jorre, quoted in Venus Bound. When I spoke to Minton in August 2017, he brought up the legality of Lolita’s copyright status without prompting: “I still wonder about that damn copyright.”
As Minton explained: Inference from Nabokov letters to Walter Minton, January–February 1958.
Vladimir and Véra Nabokov left Ithaca: VNAY, pp. 362–364.
“Vladimir was a tremendous success”: Page-a-Day Diary, August 1958, Berg.
Minton sent the following telegram: Reprinted in Selected Letters: 1940–1977, p. 257.
Elizabeth Janeway’s rave review: “The Tragedy of Man Driven by Desire,” New York Times Book Review, August 17, 1958.
The reorder number from retailers: VNAY, p. 365.
“ought to have happened thirty years ago”: Letter from Nabokov to Elena Sikorski, September 6, 1958.
The indefinite leave of 1958: VNAY, p. 378.
Peter Welding was a young freelance reporter: Obituary of Peter Welding, New York Times, November 23, 1995.
Welding remembered reading of Sally’s plight: “Lolita Has a Secret, Shhh!,” Nugget, vol. 8, no. 5, November 1963.
a New York Post reporter named Alan Levin: Obituary of Alan Levin, New York Times, February 17, 2006.
The Nabokovs subscribed: Manuscript box, miscellaneous clippings, 1960–1965, Berg.
Schiff… strongly advised against reading: Interview with Stacy Schiff, April 2017.
Decades after Ruth Janisch: Account is largely drawn from interviews with “Rachel Janisch,” May 2017, and “Vanessa Janisch,” March 2015, March 2016, and May 2017.
Ella had connected with a new partner: 1951 Camden telephone directory records both residing at 944 Linden Street.
made their union legaclass="underline" California marriage records, 1965, retrieved through Ancestry.com.
Five years later, Burkett was dead: Death certificate, State of California Department of Public Health, 1970.
Diana didn’t learn the truth: Interview with Diana Chiemingo, August 2014.
Ella settled back in New Egypt: Obituary of Ella Horner, 1998, Ancestry.com.
Susan died in 2012, and Al passed away: Obituary of Susan Panaro, Burlington County Times, August 5, 2012; obituary of Al Panaro, KoschekandPorterFuneralHome.com, February 25, 2016.
“Did you say that Sally Horner”: Interview with Carol Taylor, December 2016; email from Robin Lee Hambleton, November 2017.
Edward Baker got on with his life: Obituary of Edward Baker, Vineland Daily Journal, July 28, 2014.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 17: Vineland Daily Journal, May 18, 2007.
The two Camden police detectives: “Wilfred L. Dube,” DVRBS.com, http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-WilfredLDube.htm; “Marshall Thompson,” DVRBS.com.
Howard Hornbuckle served one more term: Obituary of Howard Hornbuckle, Petaluma (California) Argus-Courier, May 9, 1962, p. 4.
Mitchell Cohen’s health suffered: Camden Courier-Post, August 30, 1950, p. 1.
including… the 1955 execution: Camden Courier-Post, May 4, 1955, p 1.
Then came his next career move: Obituary of Mitchell Cohen, Camden Courier-Post, January 1991.
Palese eventually acquiesced: Obituary of Rocco Palese, Camden Courier-Post, February 27, 1987, p. 19.
Cohen served three years: Obituary of Mitchell Cohen, Asbury Park Press, January 9, 1991, p. 8.
Véra Nabokov continued: Page-a-Day Diary, 1958, Berg.
went out to dinner at Cafe Chambord: The account largely draws from Véra Nabokov’s November 26, 1958, entry in ibid.
unduly preoccupied with a Time magazine article: “The Lolita Case,” Time, November 17, 1958.
unbylined but written by… Joyce Haber: Haber worked at Time as a researcher and reporter from 1958 through 1966. While Minton did not comment on whether he had a relationship with Haber, a former colleague recognized the writing as Haber’s.
Comedians turned Lolita into late-night fodder: VNAY, p. 375.