Full Title:

Le Choc En Retour

Publication:

Paris, Les Petit-Fills de Plon et Nourrit, 1929

Binding:

Rebound: 19.5 x 13 cm, 338 pp. Bound in purple half-morocco over smooth marbled calf, seams trimmed in gilt rounded back. Five raised bands, decorated in gilt, on spine. Spine (in gilt): H. MIRRLEES | [rule] | LE CHOC | EN RETOUR. Tops trimmed and gilded, else untrimmed. Head and tailpieces at spine, front and rear wraps preserved.

Wraps:

Crown octavo in the typical flimsy paper wraps of French paperbound books of the period. Decorations in red and lettering in red and black on front cover. Front cover: [all enclosed in a single decorative ruled box] FEUX CROISÉS | [in red] AMES ET TERRES ÉTRANGÈRES | [double rule in red, bottom rule decorated] broken in the center by the number "5" | [in red] HOPE MIRRLEES | LE CHOC | EN RETOUR | ROMAN | [in red italic] Traduit de l'anglais par | [in italic] SIMONE MARTIN-CHAUFFIER | LIBRAIRIE PLON . PARIS. Spine: omitted. Rear cover: [rule] PARIS | TYPOGRAPHIE PLON | 8. rue Garancière | [rule]. (see images above).

Notes:

This is copy no. XVIII of an issue of 30 copies on hand made paper from Papeteries Lafuma, of which 22 were for sale. There was also an issue of 3355 copies of the regular edition CP-C1, 3025 of which for sale. This edition of The Counterplot was the only translation of a book-length work by Hope Mirrlees published during her lifetime.

The rear cover of the wraps (bound in) looks to be different from the one on the normal paper copies.

Modern collectors in the US and UK tend to look down on rebound copies of modern books. In France, though, the collectors' view is very different. An issue like this one, on special paper and issued in a very limited number, would have been regarded as unfinished if left in wraps. The binding is, in fact, very handsome, and is exactly the type of binding a French collector of the period would have preferred. The old fashioned round back, though, coupled with the tight binding typical in a rebound book, did create a problem in scanning pictures for this entry. It was very difficult to get the binding and pages to lay flat for the scan, and rather than possibly damage the book I chose to accept some blurring of the images at the gutters.