Description
A first UK edition, first printing of Papillon by Henri Charrière, published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London in 1970. A very good copy with a few small names, red top stain to browned text block, topographical end papers. In a very good unclipped wrapper, with wear and a little loss to spine tips and knuckles of front and rear flap folds and some internal repair. Wrapper design by Stephen Abis. Translated from the French by Patrick O’Brian. First published in France in 1969, Papillon by Henri Charrière is an autobiographical novel that recounts the author’s harrowing experiences after being wrongfully convicted of murder in 1930s France. Sentenced to life in the brutal penal colony of Devil’s Island in French Guiana, Charrière, nicknamed “Papillon” for his butterfly tattoo, becomes obsessed with escape. The book details his relentless efforts to gain freedom, enduring inhumane conditions, betrayals and numerous daring escape attempts, embodying the human spirit’s resilience against oppression.
