in Canada, and tried to soften the blow with advance publicity via advance copies. The responses from the readers of the advance copies were too negative for him to use, however. A gala lunch was thrown a month in advance of the book's release, and about four hundred of the top names in the Canadian arts world appeared there. Posters had Cohen in a turtleneck and jacket in the hopes that such a sober pose would offset the anticipated scandal. The University of Toronto, which had started collecting Cohen's papers starting in 1964, paid Cohen $6,000 for the original manuscript. The first printing was printed by Viking and bound by McClelland & Stewart. It included typographical extras not included in future editions, such as comic book captions, a Charles Axis advertisement, a radio transcript of Gavin and the Goddesses, and a Greek-English phrase book. The book was officially published on 28 April 1966. Distribution was restricted, with Simpson's and W. H. Smith refusing to carry the book, despite McClelland's reassurances to W. H. Smith that "most of the people interested in pornography would not begin to understand either Cohen's purpose or his accomplishment". The $6.50 cover price dampened sales as well. Cohen thought it too high, but McClelland explained it was necessary to offset the publication costs and extensive promotion. He accused Cohen of being "unwilling to put [him]self out" in the way of promotion, and urged him to do more television and radio interviews. Sources and influences Cohen made use of a number of texts when researching and writing Beautiful Losers: Une vierge iroquoise: Catherine Tekakwitha, le lis de bors de la Mohawk et du St. Laurent (1656–1680) by P. Edouard Lecompte Kateri of the Mohawks by Marie Cecilia Buehrle Jesuits in North America a 1943 issue of the American comic book Blue Beetle a farmer's almanac Twilight of the Idols by Friedrich Nietzsche The Song of Hiawatha, 1855 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow He also read Emanuel Swedenborg extensively: the first two volumes of Arcana Cœlestia, Divine Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom. He would meet with other writers at the Hydra colony to discuss works such as the Book of Revelation, the I Ching, The Secret of the Golden Flower and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Cohen brought works by Martin Buber and Gershom Sholem to these meetings. Style Beautiful Losers is not written in a