La tete contre les Murs. (Signed Presentation Copy in 6-color inlaid leather)

Paris: Aux Editions Eliane Norberg, 1951. First edition thus. Signed, De Luxe limited edition. Sumptuous, full leather Artesian binding by Jacques Blanchet. From an edition of 202, number 72 of 180 printed on Velin d' Arches. Published Paris: Editions Eliane Norberg, 1951. Folio, 10 1/2" x 13 1/4" x 2 7/8" thick, 302pp., illustrated with full page engraved plates and fine textual engravings from copper - all with tissue guards, and two leather engravings (cover and verso) in 6 colors by Robert Fonta. Full dark blue satin morocco over 1/4" thick boards with chamfered corners and leather inner hinges attached to thick, duplex flyleaves and gray leather pastedowns. Gilt block paneled titles on spine, top edges tinted blue with gilt embossed edge design stamped into the page block. Front cover and verso decorated with unique, six-color leather inset engravings by Fonta, Signed on the half title by the Bazin: "Hommage amical / de l'auteur / Herve Bazin." Presentation copy to his publisher, with a four paragraph, typewritten A.L.S. by his wife Jacqueline, mounted on free endpaper, in which she writes about the color leather engravings and their signification to the situation of Arthur, the unstable protagonist of the novel..."Cuir chagrin noir, dont la couleur evoque le triste bilan d'une vie de desequilibre." A novel of youth rebellion and a man's fractured life caught up in the penal system. The novel is semi-autobiographical, based on the author's own experience in mental hospitals from 1937-1940, and was made into the film "Head Against the Wall" in 1959. Binding signed in the leather in gilt by Jacques Blanchet. Encased in a custom, matching leather and felted slipcase that echoes the curve of the book. A beautiful, exquisite production. Minor rub to a few areas of the spine, else fine - binding tight, text and plates clean and bright, in a very good slipcase with some wear at the corners and edges. . Signed by Author. 1st. Full-Leather. Fine. Illus. by Robert Fonta. Folio. Numbered, Limited Edition.