QUENEAU (Raymond). Zazie dans le métro.
Paris: Gallimard, 1959.

8vo (190 × 120 mm). 253 pp., (1) f. Original printed wrappers, with the publisher’s wraparound band.

First edition.
Queneau’s most celebrated novel, a linguistic tour de force whose inventive néo-français became an instant hallmark of post-war French literature. The book’s success was amplified by Louis Malle’s famed 1960 film adaptation, which preserved Queneau’s playful distortions of language and introduced Zazie to an international audience.

A very good copy, the fragile band unusually well preserved.