Antidotes
*Antidotes* brings together Eugène Ionesco’s polemical, autobiographical and literary reflections spanning more than fifteen years and provides an important key to the thought underlying his theatre. Most of the texts had first appeared in periodicals between 1961 and 1976 before being collected here in book form. Ionesco attacks ideological rigidity, political orthodoxies and collective conformity, while equally resisting attempts to reduce the human condition to purely social explanations. Art, culture, freedom and the metaphysical uncertainty of existence recur throughout the volume. His characteristic distrust of slogans and fossilised language assumes an explicitly polemical form in these essays. Gallimard’s collective first edition also includes an exceptionally restricted deluxe issue of only 25 copies on Arches Arjomari-Prioux wove paper, the sole large-paper issue. This copy is number 8 and is preserved in very good condition, making it a particularly desirable example of the edition.
Quantity
Eugène Ionesco
Antidotes
1977 | Paris | Gallimard
An essential collection of Ionesco’s polemical and intellectual prose, in which the historic avant-gardist directly articulates his resistance to ideology, fossilised language and conformity. Number 8 of only 25 copies on the sole large paper gives this very good copy exceptional bibliophile distinction.
*Antidotes* brings together Eugène Ionesco’s polemical, autobiographical and literary reflections spanning more than fifteen years and provides an important key to the thought underlying his theatre. Most of the texts had first appeared in periodicals between 1961 and 1976 before being collected here in book form. Ionesco attacks ideological rigidity, political orthodoxies and collective conformity, while equally resisting attempts to reduce the human condition to purely social explanations. Art, culture, freedom and the metaphysical uncertainty of existence recur throughout the volume. His characteristic distrust of slogans and fossilised language assumes an explicitly polemical form in these essays. Gallimard’s collective first edition also includes an exceptionally restricted deluxe issue of only 25 copies on Arches Arjomari-Prioux wove paper, the sole large-paper issue. This copy is number 8 and is preserved in very good condition, making it a particularly desirable example of the edition.
€250
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 25 numbered copies on Arches Arjomari-Prioux wove paper, the sole large-paper and deluxe issue; this copy no. 8; very good condition.
Print Run
25
Copy Number
No. 8
Paper
vélin d’Arches Arjomari-Prioux
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
*Antidotes* consists of articles, essays, fragments, polemics and interviews, most of which Ionesco had previously published in periodicals between 1961 and 1976. The collection addresses his views on culture, politics, literature, theatre and the position of the individual in relation to collective beliefs. In several texts he opposes political dogma and the tendency to subordinate art to ideological purposes. Contemporary writers and artists, including Samuel Beckett, also provide occasions for considering the relationship between social circumstances and the deeper existential condition of humanity. Elsewhere Ionesco discusses his own writing, memories and intellectual development. The individual pieces do not form a continuous argument, but they are united by his defence of individual freedom, critical thought and the autonomy of culture. *Antidotes* ultimately emerges as the self-portrait of a writer who continually confronts political and social explanations with questions of death, anxiety, freedom and the metaphysical uncertainty of existence.
Michaux, Henri
Affrontements
This 1981 edition of Henri Michaux's 'Affrontements' is a unique copy, enhanced by a handwritten and signed dedication from the author to Colette Roubaud. The dedication, brief yet profound, bears Michaux's characteristic poetic signature and adds a unique personal dimension to the work. The book is further complemented by an unsent, melancholic letter from Colette Roubaud herself, dated 'Samedi 22 Août' from Paris. This letter, which speaks of a missed encounter and a reluctance that prevented her from seeing Michaux at Beaubourg, creates an intimate and almost tangible document of an unfulfilled connection. This copy is not only a literary edition of Michaux's work but also a window into a personal interaction, frozen in time. The whole constitutes a rare and intriguing find for collectors of modern literature and Michaux's oeuvre.
Book
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In *Un homme en question*, published in 1979, Eugène Ionesco brought together recent articles, chronicles and interviews to form a highly personal and polemical self-portrait. The great innovator of post-war theatre appears here not only as a dramatist but as an essayist continually questioning his age, his convictions and his own anxieties. Politics, ideology and the cultural crisis of the West alternate with childhood memories, dreams, fantasies and his recurring fear of death. The result is considerably more intimate than a conventional collection of essays. At the same time, the continuity with Ionesco’s theatre is unmistakable: the same distrust of collective certainties, fossilised language and conformity shapes these reflections. Gallimard’s first edition also exists in an exceptionally restricted bibliophile form. Only 25 numbered copies were printed on Arches Arjomari-Prioux wove paper, the sole large-paper issue. This very good to near-fine copy therefore represents one of the scarcest forms of Ionesco’s later prose.
Book
€370
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Ariane
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Book
€1,100
Gracq, Julien
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Julien Gracq’s debut novel, issued by José Corti, sets a gothic castle on the Breton coast as the stage for a charged, almost dream-logic encounter between three figures. The prose is musical and image-rich, favouring symbolic landscapes and metaphysical weather. Born near Surrealism yet distinctly independent, the book establishes Gracq’s lucid enchantment from the start. For bibliophiles this is a key title: an early Corti publication, scarce in appealing condition, and the opening note of a major twentieth-century voice. Its limited print-run and initially slow reception add to the sense of discovery. This copy is on publisher’s stock.