[1] He went into business as antiquarian book dealer, but he made his fortune as a Sheffield publisher and printer of high-end erotica in partnership with Leonard Smithers which included such works as Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights.
[2][3][4] Under threat of arrest under strict Victorian pornography laws, Nichols went into exile in Paris from 1900 to 1908, publishing by mail-order to England.
[5] In 1908, Nichols, being threatened with extradition to England, migrated to Stamford, Connecticut, New York City.
His mistress, Annie (renamed 'Dolly'), pregnant with twin daughters, Aimee and Marcia, followed him shortly[6].
Nichols continued to publish erotica until 1939, when he was committed to Bellevue Mental Hospital, where he died in 1941.