Le procès

First edition of the French translation by Alexandre Vialatte, one of 148 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only grand papier copies.

Preface by Bernard Groethuysen.

Half gray morocco binding with corners, smooth spine, marbled paper sides, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, gilt top edge, slipcase edged in mouse-gray morocco with marbled paper sides, contemporary binding signed Lévêque.

Before this translation of The Trial, the very first in France, Alexandre Vialatte had already produced a translation of The Metamorphosis in 1927, thereby playing a decisive role in introducing Kafka's work to France. After studying German, Vialatte had been sent to Germany as early as 1922, thanks to Jean Paulhan, as correspondent in Mainz for La Revue rhénane, of which he became editorial secretary. He remained there until 1928, notably completing his military service in Berlin in 1924-1925, while also contributing to the Nouvelles littéraires, Le Crapouillot and the Nouvelle Revue française. Having become director of the NRF and a member of Gallimard's editorial committee, Paulhan subsequently supported the publication of Vialatte's Kafka translations by the house. The translated text follows the edition established by Max Brod, the writer's literary executor, who had published the novel posthumously in Berlin in 1925, himself determining the order and arrangement of the unfinished chapters. This 1933 edition thus marks an important date in the history of Kafka's dissemination in France: until his death in 1971, Vialatte remained his principal introducer in France, gathering his writings on the author in the posthumous collection Mon Kafka.

A fine and rare copy.