Sans famille

Very rare first edition.

Contemporary binding of half green basane, smooth spines decorated with triple gilt fillets, gilt initials at the foot of the spines, marbled paper sides, endpapers and pastedowns of handmade laid paper, speckled edges, discreet restoration to the headcaps, bindings of the period. Occasional foxing, mainly affecting the edges.

Extremely rare presentation copy in first edition, signed and inscribed by Hector Malot to Campbell Clarke, British journalist and noted collector of French literature.

No copy of this edition appears in the catalogues of French institutions.

According to WorldCat, only two copies are held in libraries worldwide: at the University of Pennsylvania and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. The copy at the Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen was catalogued with the same date but was published by Charpentier rather than Dentu, the publisher of the first edition. Only two other copies (without inscription) ever auctioned.

"After a complex writing process, the story of Rémi appeared serially from  4 December 1877 in Le Siècle, an  daily newspaper "for adults", before its publication in book form by Dentu in 1878; it met with immense success, particularly abroad. The novel was awarded the Prix Montyon in 1879 and was adapted for school readers as early as 1892. Sans famille is striking for its harshness and for the realism of its social descriptions unveiling the sentimental and tragic tale of family reconstruction centred on the figure of the orphan and on the repeated loss of the father (the substitute father, in the case of Vitalis) as well as of companions. Constantly reprinted for more than a century, it made an unexpected return in the 1980s through a Japanese animated adaptation, highly psychological and particularly dark." (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

On 30 October 1878, the sale was announced in the columns of Le Siècle. This first issue, in "grand in-18 jésus" format as stated by Dentu, was evidently sold out very rapidly. It is also interesting to note that bibliographers had no access to any copy: as a result, there is no mention of it Clouzot nor Vicaire. Malot's monument of literature remains virtually unobtainable today, save for this exceptional copy also inscribed by the author.

Provenance: engraved pastedown bookplates from the library of Campbell Clarke, bearing his motto "Ne vante, ne foiblesse" as well as his gilt-stamped initials at the foot of the spines of the bindings.