The Ski Bum

[New York]: Harper & Row, December 15, [1964].
81 numbered f. (170 x 700 mm), printed on recto in black.

Complete set of proofs of The Ski Bum.
With a copy of the edition:
New York, Harper & Row, [February] 1965. 1 vol. (145 x 210 mm) of 244 p., [1] and 1 f. Cardboard and illustrated dust jacket from the publisher. First edition and first printing.

We apologize for the imperfect translation generated by Deepl for the purposes of the show.

The first two leaves contain the text of the two dust jacket flaps; the third, the copyright notices. Forward to the text to be published in February 1965 by Harper & Row. The proofs are dated at the top December 15.

The novel was published directly in English and was not translated and published in France until four years later, under the title Adieu Gary Cooper. This original version was completed in California in November 1964.

The French version would not be published until March 1968, fully translated by Gary, as the second volume of his “American Comedy”. This French text would be dedicated “to Diego”, his son Alexandre Gary, then aged six. Because Diego Gary was born out of wedlock, the first years of his life would be hidden from the couple’s relatives. His father used his diplomatic contacts to have a birth certificate drawn up in Charquemont, dated October 26, 1963, a date after that of his parents’ marriage – who had married in secret on October 16, 1963, in the Corsican village of Sarrola-Carcopino.

Such proofs, especially in the case of texts by Romain Gary published in the United States, are extremely rare.