Le Petit Garçon
One of 35 deluxe copies on vélin de Rives (no. 13).
Signed presentation inscription: “Pour monsieur et madame Arlette et Maurice Alteirac, qui aiment le livre - objet qui n'est pas un objet... et à qui j'ai plaisir de dédicacer ce modeste ouvrage, en toute sympathie, Philippe Labro.”
Accompanied by an invitation card for the book signing at the librairie Gallimard, November 24, 1990.
A few weeks before this inscription was written, Philippe Labro was the clear frontrunner for the Prix Goncourt. Head of RTL and a well-known media figure, he had already come close to winning in 1988 with Un été dans l’Ouest, then returned in 1990 with Le Petit Garçon — already 200,000 copies sold before the “fateful date.” According to legend, André Stil, a longstanding member of the jury, remarked to him: “Monsieur Labro, you have unleashed a storm of jealousy.” Labro then understood that he would be made to pay for having already enjoyed success. The verdict confirmed his fears: in the final round, against Jean Rouaud, Les Champs d’honneur won by eight votes to two. This episode still feeds the mythology of the Goncourt’s dramatic upsets today. It should also be acknowledged, however, that Rouaud’s text was of real quality, certainly one of the finest Goncourt winners of the late twentieth century. Labro’s timing was, quite simply, unfortunate.