“HE DRINKS, HE BRAWLS, HE CHEATS AT CARDS…”

FRANCE, Anatole. At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque. London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, (1925). Octavo, contemporary three-quarter burgundy polished calf gilt, raised bands, tan morocco spine labels, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt. $375.

Illustrated edition of France’s satire, featuring the incomparable Abbé Jérôme Coignard, “a fun-loving monk, sensitive to the pleasures of the flesh and always ready to drink,” with 12 charming illustrations by Frank C. Papé, handsomely bound in calf-gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Nobel Prize-winner Anatole France was known for “his graceful erudition, his love of beauty… his subtle, biting irony… his clarity of thought, and his elegant, melodious style” (Reid, 242). At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque is “a philosophical tale where France introduced the Abbé Jérôme Coignard, a fun-loving monk, sensitive to the pleasures of the flesh and always ready to drink. An epicurean as well as a scholar, Coignard reminds us of Sylvestre Bonnard and the provincial professor M. Bergeret of France’s later work” (Pribic, 128).

Fine condition. A handsome volume.