Le Grand Meaulnes

First published in 1913, this novel is narrated by Francois Seurel, son of a schoolmaster in a small French town, who recalls the arrival of Augustin Meaulnes as a boarder. Meaulnes disappears on a walk, stumbles on a decaying estate in the midst of a strange fete, and meets Yvonne de Galais; then he cannot find the lost domain again. Francois watches his friend's obsession, the later reappearance of Yvonne's brother Frantz, and the attempt to turn a remembered adventure into an ordinary marriage. The book is a provincial coming-of-age story about a longing that cannot survive its own fulfillment.

7 colour. Illustrated with frontis and 6 other illustrations. Cream cloth bound boards printed and blocked with green design and gilt. Green slipcase.