La Condition humaine
One of 209 copies on vélin pur fil (no. 75) — the only deluxe-paper printing after 40 réimposé quarto Tellière copies: 1 on China paper and 39 on vergé pur fil.
Signed presentation inscription: “Pour Monsieur Pierre Consten, avec les sentiments de sympathie d'André Malraux, 1973.”
This was Malraux’s second book with Gallimard, after Royaume farfelu, and his first novel. Eagerly anticipated and closely watched, it was actively promoted by Gaston Gallimard, who, a year after Les Loups had won the Prix Goncourt against Céline, wished to reinforce his house’s standing with a title by an already celebrated in-house author. The strategy succeeded: the Prix Goncourt was awarded to Malraux on 7 December 1933.
In his official statement, the thirty-two-year-old writer declared: “It is customary, after any literary prize, to explain how and why the book one has written should appeal to everyone. I want there to be no ambiguity about mine. I have tried to express the one thing that matters to me, and to show a few images of human grandeur.” The Prix Goncourt was awarded to André Malraux on the fourth ballot, with five votes against three for Charles Braibant’s Le roi dort, one for René Béhaine’s La Solitude et le Silence, and one for Paul Nizan’s Antoine Bloyé.
Inscriptions on deluxe-paper copies are rare.
A very fine copy, carefully bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin.