TOURNIER (Michel). Le Roi des Aulnes. Paris: Gallimard, 1970.
8vo (200 × 143 mm). 396 pp., (2) ff. Half red morocco, raised bands, gilt lettering and date, top edge gilt; original wrappers and spine preserved. Binding by L. Lavaux.
First edition, issued without any large-paper printing. A desirable copy with an author’s presentation inscription to Patrick Gauthier-Landau. Winner of the Prix Goncourt, Le Roi des Aulnes is Tournier’s masterwork: a dark, myth-infused meditation on identity, power and seduction, set against the backdrop of twentieth-century Germany. Its international impact was reinforced by Volker Schlöndorff’s 1996 film adaptation, starring John Malkovich, Gottfried John and Marianne Sägebrecht.
