Notes on the First Edition of Albert Camus's L'Étranger  [The Stranger], 1942

The first edition of L’Étranger is a major bibliophilic landmark and exceedingly rare. It is, however, difficult to distinguish from the numerous reprints that followed the modest print run of this debut work by an unknown young writer from Algiers. There is no statement identifying the first edition, and, unlike many other Gallimard first editions, no deluxe issue was ever produced.

How to identify a first edition of L’Étranger by Albert Camus.

The bibliographic information is based on several elements.

The printing completed date on the final page is April 21, 1942. This represents the first printing of the edition. As a general rule, since this information is a legal requirement, it is the only element that is never falsified for commercial purposes.

However, in the case of L'Étranger, this alone is insufficient, as this same printing was divided into three issues:

• The review copies (400 copies, some of which were lost) bear the notation "S.P." at the foot of the title page.
  
  
• The first issue (also 500 copies) bears no statement whatsoever (not even "first edition").

• Seven issues of 500 copies each bear a "false edition statement": second edition, third edition... eighth edition, printed at the head of the cover and at the foot of the title page (beneath the publisher's name). These are called "false statements" because they represent a commercial strategy intended to suggest multiple reprintings due to great success, when in fact all copies came from the same print run. (Copies bearing ninth edition and higher are genuinely later reprintings.)

Copies bearing indications of ‘ninth edition’ and higher are in fact later reprints, each with a new imprint statement.

The review copy represents both the smallest print run and the first sheets printed. In the absence of deluxe copies -which the young, unknown Camus, freshly arrived from Algeria, could not access - it served as a tirage de tête. (Since March 1942, the French government had imposed strict paper rationing on publishers, necessitating drastic economies in print runs and paper quality.) The most valuable copies are therefore those with no edition statement at all (or simply marked ‘SP’), bearing on the last page the imprint statement: ‘21 avril 1942.’

Less rare, copies with the correct imprint statement remain sought after due to the high value of the unmarked first edition.

Owing to the wartime paper’s poor quality, most copies have browned, though a few exceptional examples retain a strong appeal.

First edition copy of L’Étranger by Albert Camus, review copy (service de presse), bound by Jean-Luc Honneger.