Julien GRACQ / Louis POIRIER Lot n° 1

At the castle of Argol. José Corti Paris s.d. (1938). E.O. of which only 3 copies were printed on Alfa Bouffant. Limited edition to 1500 copies, one of those, which belongs to the first edition: printed by the Technique du livre Paris XIVe. Autograph letter signed to his sister on the title page and dated "January 39 / For Suze / Fraternally / Julien Gracq". Copy with a silver photo representing the portal of the parish enclosure in front of the church of St Peter and St Paul in Argol (Finisterre). Stamp "velox" on the back, 8,8 x 6,4 cm, black and white. Small handwritten note from Gracq "Argol - August 1953 - in default of the "castle"...". Bound in-12 full plum morocco, spine with 4 nerves, gold lettering, gilt head, counterfolds with quadruple gold border, covers retained without spine, fresh interior, in full paper case. Three tears restored, p19, p 137 and 139. First novel of the author and according to Breton first true surrealist novel such as he dreamed it would exist one day. Refused by Gallimard, accepted by José Corti. Gracq had to contribute to the publishing costs. Julien Gracq needs no introduction. This sublime author, father of the Château d'Argol, of the Balcon en forêt and especially of the Rivage des Syrtes. Adored by the critics and the jury of the Goncourt prize, he refused the honors. Behind Julien Gracq: Louis Poirier. A son. Who offered his masterpiece to his mother. A brother. The one of Suzanne, "Suze", to whom he gave, marked with his signature, each of his texts. A lover. That of Nora Mitrani whose letters found him in the family house of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil where he wrote. Surrealist, model and muse of Hans Bellmer, friend of André Breton and Lise Deharme, a young woman passionate about the sun, swept away by the disease on the eve of her 40th birthday. Out of the family shelves, this collection, from the schoolboy notebook to the crowned novel, has only known the intimacy of the artist, now a little more revealed.