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Description
VIALATTE (Alexandre).
Les Fruits du Congo. Novel.
Paris: Gallimard, [1951]. — In-8, 208 x 140: 332 pp., (2 leaves, the last one blank), printed cover. Paperback
First edition.
‘*Les Fruits du Congo* is a poster. It depicts a magnificent ‘black woman’ carrying golden lemons. Schoolboys in a town in Auvergne gaze dreamily at this poster, which for them symbolises adventure and the profound poetry of existence. What is adolescence? That is the question to which Alexandre Vialatte responds with this great novel. In fact, he does not answer it: he shows us adolescence, with its extravagances, its sublime aspirations, its melancholic loves; he also shows us an entire provincial town with its fairs, its murderer, its doctor, its secondary school, its public garden” (please insert).
Press copy, featuring this autograph note signed by the author on the first blank page, addressed to the writer and journalist Gilbert Guilleminault (1914–1990):
To Mr // Gilbert Guilleminault // in collegial tribute // Paris, 27 September 51 // Vialatte
Copy featuring the ‘please insert’ note.
Stains on the cover. Pages discoloured.
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
Lot description modified on 10/12/2026 at 5:40 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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