L’Empreinte du dieu
One of 25 copies on vergé pur fil (no. 6).
Signed presentation inscription: “À monsieur Firmin Dubar, affectueux et déférent souvenir, M. Van der Meersch.”
Prix Goncourt, 1936. Born in Roubaix, Maxence Van der Meersch (1907–1951) enjoyed immense popular success in the 1930s and 1940s, with work marked by social Catholicism, a strong regional grounding, and a deep sensitivity to human suffering. L’Empreinte du dieu celebrates redemption through love and faith, in a plot steeped in spirituality and mystical fervor.
On 2 December 1936, the Académie Goncourt awarded him the prize by six votes to four over Louis Aragon’s Les Beaux Quartiers. It was the second consecutive year the jury had passed over Aragon, following Les Cloches de Bâle in 1935. This double rejection fueled the idea that the Académie was unwilling to honor a Communist writer, favoring instead novels more in keeping with its own values. This success brought Albin Michel a further triumph, following Benjamin, Malherbe, Maran, and Vercel the previous year, confirming its role as the publisher of the great popular and spiritual voices.
Stamp of the Maison de retraite St François de Sales de Vernaison on the first leaf.
From the “Prix Goncourt” library of Gérard Pouguet, with bookplate.