L'étranger

First edition, with no deluxe issue, and bearing the correct printer's imprint date.

An unusual copy, with no edition statement on the title page but with the spurious mention « deuxième édition » at the head of the rear wrapper.

Minor tears at the head and foot of the spine neatly repaired, small losses at the head and foot of the front wrapper restored, paper browned as usual.

When The Stranger appeared in May 1942, French publishing was operating under wartime paper rationing: since December 1941, publishers had received only a fraction of their pre-war allocations. Albert Camus was then virtually unknown in metropolitan France. Pascal Pia had sent his manuscript to André Malraux, who supported its publication by Gallimard. With paper scarce and Camus still little known, Gallimard produced no deluxe issue. The 4,400 copies, all completed on 21 April 1942, were distributed as follows: 400 press copies, marked « S.P. » on the title page and rear wrapper; 500 copies with no edition statement; and 3,500 copies divided among seven fictitious « editions » of 500 copies each, bearing at the foot of the title page and at the head of the rear wrapper statements ranging from second to eighth edition. In the absence of copies on fine paper, the press copies and those without an edition statement effectively constitute the « deluxe issue » of this legendary work. Our copy presents a remarkable intermediate state, doubtless accidental: its title page bears no edition statement, like copies of the first issue, while its wrapper is marked « Deuxième édition ».
A bibliographical curiosity unlike any copy we have encountered before.

A special mention is surely due to this strange Stranger, at once double and unique.