SIMENON (Georges). - Lot 199

SIMENON (Georges). Le Coup de Lune. Unpublished novel. Paris: A. Fayard & Cie, [1933]. — In-8, 187 x 119: 252 pp., (2 blank leaves at the end), printed cover. Paperback, with modern slipcase and dust jacket (T. Treille). First edition. *Le Coup de Lune* (delirious tropical fever) is the result of Simenon’s stay in French Equatorial Africa. The story follows Joseph Timar, a 23-year-old Frenchman who traveled to Gabon (Libreville) with colonial illusions. Upon his arrival at the Hotel Central, run by Adèle Renaud and her husband Eugène, he is confronted with a brutal reality: white alcoholism, tropical diseases, racial violence, and corruption. Through this novel, the author depicts with raw realism colonial decadence, racial tensions, and the absurdity of the human condition in a hostile environment. One of 50 numbered copies on pure-fiber vellum paper from Papeteries Lafuma (No. 40), the only edition printed on large-format paper. Copy in very good condition.