Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914)
Le Grand Meaulnes. Paris: Émile-Paul Frères, 1913.
12mo (182 x 114mm). Imprint on p.366 dated September 1913. Full dark brown crushed morocco by Alix, gilt fillets on covers and spine, moiré endpapers, edges gilt, original printed wrappers dated October 1913 bound in; housed in custom slipcase. Provenance: Jean Lebrun (leather label on endpaper) – Jérôme Lebrun (leather label on endpaper) – Sotheby’s, Paris, 15 May 2012, lot 111.

First edition in book form of a classic of French literature, this being no. 57 of 400 copies printed especially for the author. ‘The novel is many things – magical, high-hearted, improbable, coincidence-ridden, operatic – yet never sentimental, because it is true to what we remember about adolescence, with all its hopes and fears and impossible dreams’ (Julian Barnes, The Guardian, 13 April 2012).