Description
LEIRIS (Michel).
Phantom Africa.
Paris: Librairie Gallimard, [1934]. — 8vo, 227 x 140: 525 pp., (2 folios), 32 plates, illustrated cover. Paperback, modern slipcase.
First edition of the travel journal documenting Michel Leiris’s journey from Dakar to Djibouti between 1931 and 1933.
‘These notes — taken during the ethnographic and linguistic expedition led by Marcel Griaule from Dakar to Djibouti and published virtually unedited — are not a historical account of that mission. They are simply a personal diary. One will find that in many places I come across as peculiar, sorrowful, difficult, biased — even unfair —, inhuman (or ‘human, all too human’), ungrateful, a false brother, and who knows what else? My aim, day by day, was to describe this journey as I saw it, and myself as I am…’ (p. 9).
The edition is illustrated with a map and 31 photographic plates.
A press copy, which the author presented to Adrien Borel (1886–1966), bearing this autograph dedication signed on the first blank page:
To Dr Borel, // thanks to whom this book was able to be // written… // Michel Leiris
Adrien Borel, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was Leiris’s analyst from 1929 onwards, a pivotal year in which the writer broke with Surrealism and turned towards ethnology. This dedication bears witness to Borel’s decisive influence on his work, his psychoanalysis having liberated his expression and shaped his writing style.
A very well-preserved copy, largely uncut, complete with the ‘please insert’ note.
Cover slightly soiled.
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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