☙ Voyage au bout de la nuit

1932 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline

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☙ Voyage au bout de la nuit

✑ Louis-Ferdinand Céline

VOYAGE AU BOUT DE LA NUIT

Published on 15 October 1932 by Denoël & Steele in Paris, Voyage au bout de la nuit is the debut novel of Louis-Ferdinand Céline, born Louis-Ferdinand Destouches (1894–1961). The original edition was printed at the Grande Imprimerie de Troyes. Faced with an immediate and massive commercial success — the novel sold out within weeks, narrowly missing the Prix Goncourt before winning the Prix Renaudot — Denoël multiplied reprintings at a sustained pace throughout the winter of 1932–1933. The copy presented here belongs to the recomposition produced by the Imprimerie Moderne, 177 Route de Châtillon in Montrouge, with a printing date of 12 January 1933 (noted as « 12-1-33 »). It is distinguished from the original edition by the correction of the famous misprint on page 59 — « maison du Pasteur » rectified to « maison du passeur » — carried out during the new typesetting of the work. The cream cover printed in black and red bears the mention of the 128th edition, a striking testament to the speed with which this foundational text conquered its first readers.

Why add it to your collection?

A January 1933 Recomposition: Direct Witness to the Novel's Meteoric Early Success

The Corrected 'Maison du Pasteur' Misprint: a Precisely Identifiable Bibliographic Collation Point

The Most Important Twentieth-Century Novel in the French Language, Prix Renaudot 1932

A Copy Bearing the Original Address of the Imprimerie Moderne in Montrouge, Before Its Relocation

A Core Collection Value: an Essential Presence in Any French Literary Library

Description

The January 1933 recomposition by the Imprimerie Moderne in Montrouge represents a precise bibliographic milestone in the editorial history of Voyage au bout de la nuit. It is distinguished from the original Troyes edition by several identifiable collation points: the correction of the misprint on page 59 (« maison du Pasteur » becoming « maison du passeur »), a slightly different typographic composition due to the change of workshop, and the high edition number on the cover — here the 128th — which attests to the unprecedented cumulative print run in fewer than three months of commercial release.

The format remains identical to the original: in-12 (187 × 120 mm), 623 pages, cream cover with title printed in red and black. This deliberately modest format, imposed by Céline himself, was a strong editorial statement: that of the popular novel, accessible, to be carried and read standing in the métro. Far from the library book, it embodies Céline's determination to reach the widest possible readership, consistent with his literary project of a language modeled on spoken, vivid, everyday speech.

The Corrected Misprint: an Essential Bibliographic Marker

The misprint on page 59 is, alongside the inverted « m » on page 150, the best-known discriminating criterion for identifying the initial Troyes printing. Its correction in the Montrouge recomposition thus allows for precise dating of this copy and its placement within the chain of successive printings. For the bibliophile and...

The Corrected Misprint: an Essential Bibliographic Marker

The Imprimerie Moderne in Montrouge: a Workshop in Full Expansion

The Imprimerie Moderne, established at 177 Route de Châtillon in Montrouge, was one of the most active composition and printing workshops in the southern suburbs of Paris during the interwar period. Its capacity to absorb large print runs rapidly made it a natural partner for Parisian publishers faced with unexpected successes — as was precisely the case for Denoël & Steele with the Voyage. The full address appearing in the colophon of this copy is itself a dating point, as the printing house later relocated.

A Literary and Historical Object

To own a copy of Voyage au bout de la nuit in its January 1933 recomposition is to hold in one's hands an object printed in the first weeks of a literary upheaval. At the moment this copy left the Montrouge presses, Céline was already a national celebrity. The controversy surrounding the Prix Goncourt was still fresh, critics were clashing in the newspapers, and the name Bardamu was on everyone's lips. This copy is the material reflection of that unique moment.

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