Description
GARY (Romain).
Chien blanc.
Paris: Gallimard, [1970]. — In-8, 207 x 140: 253 pp., (1 f.), printed cover. Paperback, padded cover.
First edition.
*Chien Blanc* is a novel largely inspired by the author’s own life. The story, set in America and then in France in the late 1960s, recounts how Batka, a dog trained to attack Black people, turns the lives of the author and the actress Jean Seberg, who were a couple in Hollywood, upside down. Refusing to have him put down, Gary attempts to re-train him with the help of Keys, a Black man employed at a kennel. Set against a backdrop of the civil rights movement and political crises (the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, May ’68), this socially conscious novel denounces all forms of racism and hypocrisy, whilst championing a profound humanism. A text that remains as relevant as ever, questioning human folly and the mechanisms of hatred.
One of 55 numbered copies on Lafuma-Navarre pure-fibre vellum (no. 54), the only large-format edition following 23 copies on Dutch vellum.
A very well-preserved copy.
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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