Les Jeux sauvages

“In the weeks following the announcement of the prizewinner, a rumor spread through Paris that the Goncourt had been a resounding commercial failure. Now, while the jurors owe their aura to their power to bring happiness to booksellers, a publisher, a distributor, a writer and, sometimes, readers, it is also well known that nothing is sadder than a bestseller that does not sell. The malicious rumor grew so damaging to the book’s sales that Gaston I, lord of publishing, took the bull by the horns. He summoned several bailiffs and had them certify the number of copies printed at Brodard et Taupin, Grevin and the Imprimerie moderne. And on 9 February 1951, he reserved two pages in the Bibliographie de la France, the trade’s official journal: on one, he published their certifications in full, and on the other, he had printed in large letters: “122,500 copies, print run certified by bailiff.” But, just as blowing is not playing, “printed” is not “sold.” No matter: by the next day, the rumor was dead.” (Pierre Assouline, in Le Monde des livres, 28 August 2008).