Maurice Girodias was the founder of the 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...

. At one time he was the owner of his father'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...

, and spent most of his productive years in Paris.
The son of Manchester-born 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...

 and a French heiress, Girodias lived a relatively idyllic childhood, until the Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 forced his father to take up a new profession in Paris, namely publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 risqué books in English for the consumption of foreign tourists, who because of censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 could not obtain such materials at home.