Tropic of Capricorn

In 1939 American author Henry Miller publishedTropic of Capricorn in retaliation to the negative reception of his equally explicit novel Tropic of Cancer, which was published five years earlier.

Despite the international controversy that Tropic of Capricornsparked, Mary Reynolds’s design presents a more literal play on the title. Like a globe, the book binding’s narrow green leather band represents the equator, while the wider, red band represents the Tropic of Capricorn. This latitudinal line marks the southernmost boundary of the tropics, a region characterized by extreme heat and humidity. Miller was drawn to the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorns as metaphors for the intensity of human suffering.

Inside, we find endpapers of a similar style to those used in her binding of Raymond Queneau’s Gueule de Pierre although instead of the Pisces symbol, the iconic Capricorn sea-goat is the repeated pattern. There’s a playful, thoughtfulness to the design reinforced by a note from Miller, which reads:

“To Mary Reynolds—farewell greetings from her devoted admirer and well wishes, Henry Miller 1/7/39”