Lady L.

The first title by Romain Gary published in this collection.

Titles in the “Collection Soleil” were bound in full cloth of various colors (pink, yellow, orange, blue, green…), in a design by Massin. The collection reprinted backlist titles as well as brand-new releases. It was created in 1957 to compete with the Club du meilleur livre (a subsidiary of Gallimard and Hachette): Claude Gallimard was opposed to the idea of Hachette profiting from the exploitation of his backlist in bookstores in the form of bound books. The print run was limited to a few thousand copies, with this advertising line at launch: “The sun, said Fontenelle, is the pride of the planets. The books of the ‘Soleil’ collection, all in sunlike octavo format, will be the pride of your library.” Thirteen titles by Romain Gary had the honor of appearing in it: Lady L., La Promesse de l’aube, Les Mangeurs d’étoiles, La Danse de Gengis Cohn, La Tête coupable, Adieu Gary Cooper, Chien blanc, Europa, Les Enchanteurs, Au-delà de cette limite…, Clair de femme, Charge d’âme and Les Clowns lyriques.

He is surpassed only by Simone de Beauvoir (14 titles), Jean Giono (16) and Henry de Montherlant (22!).