Hervé Bazin - Vipère au poing - 1948

Hervé Bazin - Vipère au poing - 276 pages - Paris, Grasset 1948 - half morocco with corners - 12mo - 13 x 19 cm.

Condition: Covers and spines preserved, in mint condition, superb copy in half-morocco with corners, golden fillets on the covers, gilded author, year and title on the spine, gilded topstain, binding by Gustave Paul Guétant. Complete.

First edition, one of the 1000 deluxe copies on Chiffon de Corvol for the members of the readers’ award of the gazette des lettres. Copy No.149.

Viper in the Fist is a largely autobiographical novel by Hervé Bazin, released in 1948. The book describes the childhood and adolescence of the narrator, Jean Rezeau "Brasse-Bouillon". The latter describes his relationship with his family, including his mother Paule Rezeau, née Pluvignec "Folcoche", a cruel and unloving woman. This novel in camera deals with an unworthy mother, the three martyred children, the cowardly father and a changing tutor.

Binding signed Gustave Paul Guétant, a French draughtsman and sculptor, born on 25 May 1873 in Marseille, and died in the same city on 23 July 1953. As soon as he could, Guétant resumed his book decorating and cover illustration work in his family's bookbinding workshop. He kept abreast of developments in the decorative arts in the book industry. Little by little, he reconnected with his former colleagues from the Société des artistes décoratifs, first in 1921, then in 1924 and 1925. He was a member of the jury for the book section at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925. In 1927, he was an active member of the jury at the Salon des artistes décorateurs.

Nice copy of this first edition, perfectly bound.