Le Peuple de la mer
One of 40 copies on vergé de Hollande, initialed and numbered by the publisher (no. 35), after 10 copies on Japanese paper.
Marc Elder — the pen name of Marcel Tendron, a journalist and novelist from Nantes — devoted this novel to the world of Breton fishermen along the Loire-Atlantique coast. Writing from direct observation, he depicts the harshness of maritime labor, the solidarity among crews and the hard condition of sailors’ families, while capturing a strong regional picturesqueness.
The Prix Goncourt crowned a work of maritime regional fiction, continuing the social and provincial vein already favored by the jury in previous years. Goncourt recognition made this book Marc Elder’s best-known work; he was otherwise a recognized art critic, close to Claude Monet and a writer on Rodin.
The jury’s choice proved historic: Le Peuple de la mer won over Marcel Proust’s Du côté de chez Swann, published a few weeks earlier by Grasset. This now-famous decision shows how much the prize then favored regional and social realism over literary experimentation. Another reason: Grasset had just scored a resounding double success in 1911 and 1912 for so young a publisher. Proust would have to wait until 1919 and À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs to receive Goncourt recognition.
A fine copy — from the Goncourt libraries of Hubert Person (bookplate) and Gérard Pouguet (bookplate).