MALOT (Hector). Sans famille. Paris: E. Dentu, 1878. - 2 large volumes in-18, 194 x 143: (2 ff.), 345 pp., (1 f.), 8 pp. cat. printed cover; (2 ff.), 420 pp. (4 ff. last blank), printed cover. Dark blue half-maroquin à la Bradel, smooth spine, untrimmed, cover preserved (Durvand-Thivet). Extremely rare first edition of this internationally successful novel, which was to enjoy countless reprints and, in modern times, several adaptations for cartoons, comic strips, film and television. Hector Malot dedicated his work to his daughter Lucie; the dedication he had printed at the head of the novel is very touching. Featuring the young orphan wanderer Rémi, "Sans famille" owes its fortune to the eminent sincerity of a storyteller who has the respect of his audience and knows how to strike a tone that appeals to children. A discreet moralist, Hector Malot also has a sense of modern life and a deep feeling for human suffering. His appealing didacticism, and the scrupulous care he takes to describe the concrete particularities of an environment or a trade (Mother Barbetin's thatched cottage, miners' lives, cloth-making, clove-growing, etc.) have earned his book countless reprints for use in elementary school" (Dictionnaire des œuvres, 1980, VI, p. 38). The book was first serialized in Le Siècle from December 4, 1877 to April 19, 1878, before being published by Dentu in November 1878. This original edition is not cited by Vicaire, who first mentions the illustrated edition of 1880. Sicklès only owned this title by Hector Malot, but settled for the 1880 Hetzel edition (see cat. XIX, 8408). The last copy to be sold, and the only one we have found, was offered by Christie's on July 5, 2023, and was a copy on ordinary paper. No copy appears in the Catalogue Collectif de France. This is one of the very few copies on paper by HOLLAND VAN GELDER, and in fact the only one known to date. The edition has no justification. A good copy with full margins, complete with publisher's catalog at the end of the first volume, in a slightly later binding signed Durvand-Thivet. Lucien Durvand set up his own workshop around 1890, joining forces with Thivet. He signed "Durvand-Thivet" until the end of the 19th century. Spines slightly faded. Volume 1: Restored tear to front cover. Angular tear with loss and damage to the advertisement on the second cover of the same volume. Some foxing to endpapers and soiling to witnesses. Volume 2: Small restored tears, one with a small loss on the front cover. Small angular tears and a restored tear on the second cover. Soiling and occasional foxing to witnesses.