Also included is the first book edition, with its dust jacket. It differs greatly from the first design proposed by the illustrator, which was nonetheless quite successful.
This copy comes from the personal archives of the illustrator, Jean Jacquelin, with the estate stamp.
Jean Jacquelin worked on 27 of Simenon’s novels for Presses de la Cité between 1957 and 1962, following an early attempt in 1946, when he designed a first dust jacket for the reissue of Trois chambres à Manhattan (Three Bedrooms in Manhattan). It was not until ten years later that Sven Nielsen, head of Presses de la Cité, entrusted him with the new illustrations, at a time when cover design was taking a new turn, moving away from photographic covers toward illustrated ones.
By this date, Jean Jacquelin was already a recognized poster artist. Artistic director of the Step agency from 1929, he produced several film posters from 1940 onward while continuing his work as a commercial illustrator across many sectors: automobiles (Peugeot, Delage, Simca, Buick, Fiat), energy (Antar, Esso, Shell), the press (Paris-Soir, L’Intransigeant, Éditions Froissart, Presses de la Cité), fashion (Scandale, Magasin Le Printemps), tourism and travel (SNCF, Air France, Aéropostale, Compagnie Transatlantique), and numerous brands and events (Crédit Foncier, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Coop, Vittel, Casino d’Enghien, Brandt, Champagne Mercier, Semaine du cinéma, the châteaux of the Loire).
His two most famous posters are undoubtedly those for Jacques Tati’s Jour de fête and Jacques Becker’s Casque d’or, with Simone Signoret and Serge Reggiani. A major exhibition was devoted to him in 1993 at the Bibliothèque Forney, accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue (Jean Jacquelin affichiste et dessinateur publicitaire; Exposition Bibliothèque Forney, April 29–May 28, 1993).
His work for Presses de la Cité was carried out in collaboration with Georges Simenon, to whom Jacquelin submitted his original designs: the author would approve or reject them, sometimes suggesting ideas of his own. Several of the designs bear Simenon’s annotations on the verso.
For Le Fils, three designs were first submitted to Simenon. The final illustration was close to the last of these, to which Jacquelin added brighter colors that were later reused. This dust jacket was the first in the series of 26 that followed, through 1962, for first editions or reissues of titles already published.
• Les Autres (1962, first-edition cover)
• Betty (1961, first-edition cover)
• Les Complices (1960, reissue cover)
• Dimanche (1958, first-edition cover)
• En cas de malheur (1958, reissue cover)
• L’Escalier de fer (1953, reissue cover)
• Les Fantômes du chapelier (1961, reissue cover)
• Feux rouges (1961, first-edition cover)
• Le Fils (1957, first-edition cover)
• Je me souviens (1961, reissue cover)
• Lettre à mon juge (1960, reissue cover)
• La Mort de Belle (1960, reissue cover)
• Le Nègre (1957, first-edition cover)
• La Neige était sale (1959, reissue cover)
• L’Ours en peluche (1960, first-edition cover)
• Le Passage de la ligne (1958, first-edition cover)
• La Porte (1962, first-edition cover)
• Le Président (1958, first-edition cover)
• Strip-tease (1958, first-edition cover)
• Les Témoins (1959, reissue cover)
• Le Temps d’Anaïs (1960, reissue cover)
• Le Train (1961, first-edition cover)
• Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946, reissue cover)
• Une vie comme neuve (1960, reissue cover)
• Le Veuf (1959, first-edition cover)
• La Vieille (1959, first-edition cover)
• Les Volets verts (1959, reissue cover)