A good representation of this is the way that the book's cover has changed over time from the original intent from the author, and how that clashes with especially the movie posters and following prints:
Nabokov is often quoted as asking the cover to contain:
“[...]pure colours, melting clouds, accurately drawn details, a sunburst above a receding road with the light reflected in furrows and ruts, after rain. And no girls [...] There is one subject which I am emphatically opposed to: any kind of representation of a little girl."
Now despite and likely because of how common this quote is attributed to him, I cannot properly find a citation to this quote unfortunately :/
we can combine this request of the cover with the original print: (1955 Paris) and first US English print (1958)
While there were various prints in this period which did use imagery of a little girl (Image 1:The Netherlands, 1958), or alternatively those which chose to depict a more mature Dolores (Image 2: Istanbul, 1959), most covers still choose something more true to the themes of the novel itself and, notably, much more restrained than what is to come.
This image below is the poster of the 1962 Stanley Kubrick 'adaptation' of Lolita.
This movie, alongside the imagery it would introduce to common association, most notably the heart-lens glasses, lollypop, and, bright red lipstick, as well as the (again,, aforementioned) recontextualisation of Lolita from a dark fiction into a a romance, and the placing of Dolores as a provocative female lead, are all things that have been written about to endless degrees.
(Corgi Publishing: London 1969) (Corgi Publishing, AGAIN: London 1973) (Gallimard: Paris 1990) (Stockholm Royal Theatre, Stockholm: 1994) (Penguin: 2006) (Penguin: 2011) (AxelSpringer: Hamburg 2012)
While there did and do exist covers that to some extent displayed Humbert's perverse perspective: (see again, Netherlands 1958 pre Kubrick), (Penguin Books: 2006, 2011, below) there existed far FAR less which objectify or portray Dolores as a lead in the sense of the movie itself.
In my eyes the best Lolita covers are the ones that actively subvert the associated imagery, and/or those which are disturbing, actively dis-alluring to the reader.
Here are some examples of ones that I think do a fairly good job at one or both of those things: (and at correctly displaying the contents of the novel itself)
The hunching over in pain, the monochrome figure, the slight tip of the dial visible past her legs. I like this one because it portrays the actual pain (and of course, the dial itself mirrors that of a wind up toy, which reflects Dolores' lack of autonomy and agency throughout the events and narration of the novel itself).
This novel captures the attention on the pain, on the fact that, if you read this book, you will not experience a romance or a young girl's exploration or growth, it is about her pain and suffering.
(Sam Weber's reimagined cover: "Lolita, the story of a cover girl" 2012
This proposed/reimagined cover is taking a direct opposite approach to what one might expect, rather than the focus being on the "titular" Lolita/Dolores, it is on the true primary figure within the narrative, Humbert. Something about this one makes me very unsettled in a very appropriate manner. Though it isn't a printed cover by any publication I wanted to note it.
For similar reason, I find that the cover published by Slovart (Slovakia, 2011) works quite well.
Warning for implied (non sexual) nudity]
(Slovart, Bratislava, Slovakia: 2011)
While one may argue it too takes part in sexualising Dolores, it is another of the covers that I feel is able to portray the... perversion within the narration if that makes sense? The more I look at it the more uncomfortable I become quite frankly.
(I'm running out of images oh no) I too like Olympia Press', 1961 cover for the exact opposite reason in that it relates very directly to the themes and motif of the butterfly in the narrative, while too acting as a somewhat approachable cover.
Ok thats enough ranting about Literature history sorry everyone.
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