L'étranger

First edition, no copies on deluxe paper issued.

Half light brown morocco binding, flat spine with author stamped in gilt and title stamped in gilt lengthwise, gilt date at foot, brown stingray boards framed in morocco, brown suede endpapers and pastedowns, original covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, elegant binding signed Thomas Boichot.

Manuscript ex-libris in black ink and a slight restoration to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.

Since March 1942, the Vichy government had restricted paper stocks available to publishers which drastically reduced their print run and deluxe issues. 4,400 copies of the first edition of L’Étranger were printed on 21 April 1942 and divided into eight “editions” of 550 copies each. As a result, most copies bear on the back cover a false statement of second to eighth edition.

Paper was scarce in 1942, and as Albert Camus was then an unknown author, Gallimard did not print any copies on deluxe paper. Only press copies and first issue copies do not feature a statement of edition. The exigencies of wartime paper production resulted in stock of markedly inferior quality; copies are almost invariably browned with age, save for a handful of rare exceptions.

Copies without any statement of edition are particularly sought after.

A major piece of book collecting housed in an outstanding binding signed by Thomas Boichot.