At Swann, the complete original edition of In Search of Lost Time on large reimposed paper, where the eight volumes carry the number 89 for Maurice Heine, rubs shoulders with two almost untraceable original editions, Le Balzac de Monsieur de Guermantes and Pages inachevées [Unfinished pages]. Further on, we can see Chroniques with an original binding by Anne Leméteil, copy of a reimposed head and Pastiches et Mélanges [The Melody beneath the Words], original edition of reimposed advance copy, with a binding by Bernard Alix. It would be too long to continue the detailed list of all these treasures, from Jean Santeuil to the various correspondences, from famous studies to the first corrected tests of In Search of Lost Time published by Gallimard …
At Alexandre Vialatte, the original editions of Badonce et les créatures, Battling le ténébreux (with a binding by Nobuko Kiyomiya), Les Fruits du Congo [Fruit of the Congo], La Dame du Job, La maison du joueur de flûte [The house of the flute player] and many others are gathered under one showcase. We also have his chronicles for La Montagne collected by Ferny Besson and published in thirteen volumes by Julliard, like L’éléphant est irréfutable and Dernières nouvelles de l’homme, but also the chronicles for other newspapers, L’oiseau du mois or Dires étonnants des astrologues, his correspondence with Jean Dubuffet (binding by Nathalie Berjon) and the complete collection of Cahiers published by the Friends of Alexandre Vialatte association.
At Flaubert, you can admire the first prints of Madame Bovary and Salammbô, L’Education sentimentale [Sentimental Education], La Tentation de Saint Antoine [The Temptation of Saint Anthony] and Trois Contes [Three Tales], and Bouvard and Pécuchet and Flaubert’s other works, as well as his marvellous correspondence.
At Marcel Aymé, Les Contes du chat perché [The Wonderful Farm], bound according to the model of Paul Bonet, has joined the original editions of his novels and collections of short stories, such as La Table-aux-Crevés [The Hollow Field], La Rue sans nom, La Jument verte [The Green Mare], Travelingue, Le Chemin des écoliers [The Transient Hour], Uranus, Le Passe-Muraille [The Man Who Could Pass Through Walls] and Le Vin de Paris, many of which are bound by Bernard Alix. You will also notice his plays published by Grasset or Gallimard: Vogue la galère, Lucienne et le boucher [Licienne and the Butcher], Clérambard or La Tête des autres [The Head of Others].
The libraries of the Hôtels Littéraires also have these works in paperback for easy access. You can take a book to your room or leaf through it in our common areas. We adapt to each person by offering these readings in all available languages. Some of our authors have been widely translated, from Proust to Marcel Aymé via Flaubert, which allows us to gradually collect the best translations available in English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Turkish, etc.