L’Envers et l’Endroit
Limited to 385 copies. One of 325 copies on alfa Hélio paper, this copy no. 261.
Inscribed and signed by Camus : “à Christian Thenier, avec la sympathie d’Albert Camus.”
Camus’s first book published under his own name, L’Envers et l’Endroit gathers five early essays written when he was twenty-three. Dedicated to Jean Grenier, his former philosophy teacher in Algiers, the book already contains the source of Camus’s future work: poverty, the silent mother, the light of Algiers, the desire for happiness and the consciousness of death.
Twenty years later, Camus would return to this small book in the preface to the Gallimard reissue, recognizing in it the “unique source” of his work. Still young, brief and austere, it already holds the essential Camusian tension: misery and sunlight, the love of life and the despair of life.
Presentation copies of L’Envers et l’Endroit are exceptionally rare – only 3 copies known.
This copy, inscribed to an Algiers acquaintance, comes from the Louis and Marie-Madeleine Tschann collection and was exhibited in Albert Camus, de Tipasa à Lourmarin in 2013.
A good copy, with restored wrappers and some light foxing to the preliminary leaves.
Bound in at front is Edmond Charlot’s rare visiting card, printed “hommage de l’éditeur.”