Titling and notes on the wrapper by Hervé Bazin.
Vipère au poing has disappeared. These are therefore the only surviving traces of the novel’s creative process before its publication.
It should be noted that the autograph note on the wrapper shows a revision of his first pseudonym, Nic [H. Bazin], which he had notably used during the period of his review La Coquille. He was awarded the Prix Apollinaire on 31 December 1947 for his poems, which he published in February and then April 1948 in two limited pamphlets (Jour and À la poursuite d’Iris), by which time he had already almost finished writing his first novel, this Vipère au poing, announced on the back cover of À la poursuite d’Iris.
Vipère au poing was published, as indicated by Bazin, on 1 June 1948, with the success — and the scandal — that is well known.
Provenance: Bibliothèque Hervé Bazin, Château du Patys.]]>