Maigret aux assises

Commissaire Maigret first appeared in four popular novels that the author published under the pseudonyms Georges Sim or Christian Brulls. These novels do not belong to the official “Maigret” cycle, since Simenon drew a firm distinction — notably in 1975, when he was particularly keen to suppress any work predating 1931 — between his illegitimate output (books published under pseudonyms) and his acknowledged body of work (books published under his own name).

The official cycle comprises 75 novels, 4 collections of short stories and 28 short stories published in periodicals; 50 of these novels appeared with Presses de la Cité, whose format underwent four different presentations. Beginning with Maigret voyage (published in December 1957), the presentation became standardized, with a colored background featuring a silhouette of the author in profile, wearing a hat and smoking a pipe, its smoke rings — extending onto the front cover — containing the author’s name and the title. All the titles in this series were issued as numbered first editions printed on fine paper, with the deluxe and ordinary printings sharing the same colophon.