Monsieur des Lourdines

With this first novel, Alphonse de Châteaubriant achieved immediate acclaim: Monsieur des Lourdines tells of a prodigal son’s return to his ancestral estate, celebrating the values of the land and the virtues of rural life against the corrupting temptations of the city. The author sets rootedness against modernity, patriarchal order against the disorders of the modern world.

The Goncourt jury’s choice reflected a neo-classical vein, turned toward the soil and nostalgia, in the image of provincial France during the Belle Époque. This success, confirmed by numerous reprintings, earned Châteaubriant a solid literary reputation, before his name was later tarnished by his political compromises under the Occupation.

This title also marked a decisive step in the history of French publishing: Monsieur des Lourdines was the first Prix Goncourt winner published by Bernard Grasset, a young publisher who had only just founded his house in 1911; its success gave him immediate renown and launched a publishing venture destined to dominate much of the century.

A very fine copy, in sheets, from the “XX” printing. Presented by the founding president, Pierre Dauze, and unnumbered for one of the members, it is almost certainly the copy intended for the author.

This is the first title from the “XX” to be honored with the Prix Goncourt. Others would follow…