Le Rivage des Syrtes

First edition, one of 40 numbered copies on vergé de Rives paper, tirage de tête.
Midnight-blue morocco by P. L. Martin (dated 1958), pastedowns and endpapers of yellow-ochre calf, gilt fillet to edges of covers, gilt roulettes at head and foot, all edges gilt, covers and spine preserved, slipcase edged in midnight-blue morocco.
The novel was awarded the Goncourt prize, turned down by the author. The previous year, in a pamphlet called “La Littérature à l'estomac [Literature in the Gut]”, Gracq had denounced the commercial system surrounding literature, notably criticizing literary prizes.
Provenance : library of R. & B. L. with ex libris.
A handsome copy of Gracq's most famous novel in a splendid triple Jansenist binding by Pierre-Lucien Martin.