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

Frank Harris

Frank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...

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

Jack Kahane

Jack Kahane was a Manchester-born writer and publisher who founded the Obelisk Press in Paris in 1929.He was the son of Selig and Susy Kahane, both Romanian-born immigrants. Kahane, a novelist, began the Obelisk Press after his publisher, Grant Richards, went bankrupt...

's Obelisk Press

Obelisk Press

Obelisk Press was an English language press based in Paris, France, which was founded by Jack Kahane in 1929.Kahane, a novelist, began the Obelisk Press after his publisher, Grant Richards, went bankrupt. Going into partnership with a printer, Kahane, as Cecil Barr, published his next novel...

 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 - or failings - of celebrities of the day.

The work was banned in both the United States and Britain for a span of 40 years. At one time it was sold in Paris for more than $100.

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

Maurice Girodias was the founder of the Olympia Press. At one time he was the owner of his father's Obelisk Press, and spent most of his productive years in Paris.-Early life:...

 for a million French francs (a few thousand dollars at that time). Girodias gave the task of producing something publishable from them to Alexander Trocchi

Alexander Trocchi

Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi was a Scottish novelist.-Early career:Trocchi was born in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and Italian father. After working as a seaman on the Murmansk convoys, he attended University of Glasgow. On graduation he obtained a traveling grant that enabled him to...

, 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

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...

 in 1954 as My Life and Loves: Fifth Volume.

John Gallagher edited My Life and Loves, Complete and unexpurgated; five volumes in one, published by Grove Press

Grove Press

Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...

 in 1963; he described the Trocchi version as "apparently not authentic". James Campbell

James Campbell (author)

James Campbell , is a Scottish writer.He was born in Glasgow and educated at the University of Edinburgh , he is a former editor of the New Edinburgh Review and works for The Times Literary Supplement, where he writes the weekly "NB" column under the pen-name J.C.Bibliography* Invisible Country: A...

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