*SOLD*

Le Mur [The Wall] 
Jean-Paul Sartre
Paris, 1939 
 
First edition, review copy, marked service de presse("S. P."). Inscribed by Sartre on the half-title page: "A Monsieur Soret / en homage de / JP Sartre."  The Soret here is possibly the French ethnologist Marcel Soret, who wrote extensively about the Congo. 
 
Near contemporary quarter-morocco over vellum-covered boards, spine lettered gilt, boards ruled in gilt and light grayish blue; top edge gilt; wood grain patterned endpapers; original wrappers(including backstrip) bound in.  Joints lightly stressed, boards very lightly soiled.  A beautifully bound Near Fine copy. 
 
Housed in a matching morocco-tipped slipcase.  Slipcase with some light flaking, bottom edge split repaired – a nicely complementary creation. 
 
The book is a collection of short stories featuring characters facing the absurdities of life - mortality, dread, morality, insanity, sexuality, and political madness.  Written during the apex of fascism in Europe, Sartre probes his existential philosophy in the midst of a dark time.
 
The title story, The Wall, examines three Spanish civil war prisoners facing execution in the morning and their long night of anguish and psychological descent.
 
A rare inscribed copy of one of Sartre’s most significant works.