ARNAUD, Georges. Le salaire de la Peur. Paris, Julliard,1950.
In-8 (190 x 125 mm), 203 pp, (1) f., covers and spine preserved. Black half-maroquin, smooth spine, author and title stamped in gold, fancy endpapers (Poupelin).
First edition of the cult novel that catapulted Georges Arnaud (Henri Girard) to literary fame, before being immortalised on screen by Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1953, starring Yves Montand.
Copy on current paper, in a fine Association copy: ‘to Maître Gaston Charlet, / his grateful / and affectionate client; his friend / Henri Girard / dit / Georges Arnaud’.
Attached is a mitre-mounted letter from the author to Gaston Charlet (1902-1976), dated 4 May 1949. A member of the Resistance and a deportee, he was a senator for the Haute-Vienne and deputy mayor of Limoges. The author asked him for 20,000 francs until he could find another job (he had just returned from Chile), because ‘life is expensive here’.
