GIONO (Jean). Noé. Paris: La Table Ronde, “Le Choix” series, - Lot 116

GIONO (Jean). Noé. Paris: La Table Ronde, “Le Choix” series, 1947. Large 12mo, paperback, gray-green covered board printed in black and green, 356 pp. and 1 f. Portrait of Jean Giono by Lucien Jacques, woodcut by Gilbert Poilliot, as frontispiece. FIRST EDITION, published on December 12, 1947. *Noé* is the sixth volume in the “Le Choix” collection of original works and the second in Giono’s *Chroniques romanesques*. Limited edition of 1,342 copies: 108 on Johannot pure-fiber vellum, 314 on Crèvecœur vellum from Papeteries du Marais, and 920 on Navarre alfa. One of the copies printed on Navarre alfa, this one numbered 74. The word “ALFA” is also printed on the back cover. A unique novel in Giono’s oeuvre, *Noé* takes literary creation itself as its subject. Following *Un roi sans divertissement*, the writer portrays himself at work and weaves into his Provençal daily life the characters, landscapes, and books that populate his imagination. This structure makes *Noé* a sort of vast “workshop novel,” in which the author himself becomes the hero of his own fiction. Paperback copy in its original cover. The cover is slightly faded, with a few small foxing spots and stains, particularly on the spine; there is a small, old pencil inscription in the upper corner of the back cover. There are a few scattered foxing spots throughout the volume, more prominent on certain pages and in the margins. Overall, however, the book is well-preserved and retains its original editorial presentation.