GRACQ (Julien). Lot n° 56

Prose for the Stranger. S.l.n.n. [Paris, José Corti], 1952. In-18, paperback. First edition. Of great rarity, only 63 copies were printed off the market. This booklet, published for the author and not intended for the trade, gathers twelve prose poems testifying to the budding love between Gracq and Nora Mitrani, who, after having been Hans Bellmer's muse, became in 1953 the companion of the author of Rivage des Syrtes. A rare author, too little known, Nora Mitrani (1921-1961), originally from Sofia in Bulgaria, was, unlike Gracq, a full member of the Surrealist group. The existence of this Prose à l'étranger, for a very long time limited to the present non-commercial edition, did not prevent the vast majority of readers from ignoring this aspect of the novelist's life almost to the end. Of this separate text, Gracq, much later, declared to the critic Léon Mazzela: "I have always been fierce against the publication of texts in the private domain, but I finally accepted its publication in the Complete Works." One of 58 numbered copies on Marais vellum. Autograph letter signed by the author to Camille Bloch, these few leaves lack the poetic transmutation that could have given them anonymity and are not intended for publication... Camille Bloch (1887-1967), a bookseller and publisher based at 366, rue Saint-Honoré, became fascinated with Gracq's writings from the very beginning - from the publication of Au château d'Argol in 1938 - and worked tirelessly to promote them. His clients included the couturiers and collectors Jacques Doucet and Jean Patou. A very well preserved copy.