Description
GARY (Romain).
The Roots of Heaven. Novel.
Paris: Gallimard, [1956]. — In-8, 203 x 139: 443 pp., (2 ff.), printed cover. Dark blue half-maroquin with corners, decorated ribbed spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (contemporary binding).
First edition of one of Romain Gary’s finest novels, which won the Prix Goncourt.
The story follows Morel, a former member of the Resistance, in his struggle to save the elephants in French Equatorial Africa in the 1950s. His environmental struggle, initially a solitary one, becomes political, intertwining commitment with the tensions of decolonisation. In this work, Gary explores the conflicts between idealism and reality, the loneliness of men in search of meaning, and their commitment to a cause that transcends them – a quest for symbolic immortality in a rapidly changing world.
One of 80 copies printed on Lafuma-Navarre pure-fibre vellum (no. 68), the only large-format edition following 15 copies on Dutch vellum.
A fine copy.
Spine slightly faded.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time
10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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