Raboliot

The bibliophile society “Les XX”, founded in 1897, had already published just over 130 titles by 1925: editions limited to 20 copies, one for each of its 20 members.

For Raboliot, three additional copies were printed: the present one, for Genevoix; a second, for Bernard Grasset, bound by Constant Dreneau (Librairie Blaizot, cat. November 1991, no. 362); and a last one for Louis Brun, literary director at Grasset and the editor responsible for the book, bound by Devauchelle (Bibliothèque François Ragazzoni, Tajan, 2003, no. 114).

The decision to publish the book was made before the prize was awarded, almost certainly as soon as the novel appeared in September: this edition was printed on 8 December, and the novel was awarded the Prix Goncourt only a few days later. Its printing therefore does not strictly coincide with the first edition, whose colophon is dated 29 September 1925. This is an unusual practice: in most cases the XX edition is strictly concomitant with the first edition, sometimes delayed by a few days or weeks for logistical reasons. Choosing a title after the fact, on the strength of its success, is extremely rare.

As in the deluxe copies of the first edition, this edition contains both illustrated covers: one with a woodcut by Gérard Cochet, the other with a woodcut by André Deslignères.

Only two other titles were published by the Society that same year: La Musique intérieure by Charles Maurras and L’Europe galante by Paul Morand; fourteen more would follow until the last one, issued in 1938.

A rare edition and the only title by Genevoix to appear in this series.

A particularly desirable copy.