149 - DUTOURD, Jean. *Au bon beurre, or Ten Years in the Life of a Dairyman*.

DUTOURD, Jean. *Au bon beurre, or Ten Years in the Life of a Dairyman*. First edition, limited print run on pure-thread vellum (No. 25) of Jean Dutourd’s masterpiece. A fine copy from the library of Simone André Maurois, featuring two autographed dedications by the author to the Maurois couple and their son Gérald. Paris, NRF, 1952. In-8, ochre half-maroquin with corner pieces, spine with two broad raised bands with blind-stamped borders, author’s name and title in gilt letters, gilt head, covers and spine intact, untrimmed (modern binding). 305 pp., 3 unnumbered folios. Slight marks and scuffing on the leather. First edition of Jean Dutourd’s masterpiece, winner of the Prix Interallié in 1952, a scathing satire of France under the Occupation and the Liberation, told through the story of a Parisian couple who run a dairy shop and “make a little extra money” by taking advantage of opportunities on the black market. The novel was adapted for television in 1981 by Édouard Molinaro, starring Roger Hanin and Andréa Ferréol. One of 65 copies on pure-fiber vellum from the Lafuma-Navarre paper mills (no. 25). A copy from the library of Simone André-Maurois (1894–1968), featuring her bookplate on the inside front cover, engraved by J. Jacquin after a design by Henri Mondor and dated April 1935. It is embellished with two autograph dedications signed by the author in the form of rhyming quatrains: - one on the half-title page, to Simone and André Maurois: "I would very much like, dear Simone, / For this silly little quatrain / To express the pleasure it gives me / To write your name here; // And to you, dear André Maurois, / This quatrain in which I stumble / May quietly declare to you / That I embrace you with respect. // If you both reread my book / Pause for a brief moment / On this page where I offer you / My friendship so clumsily. / Jean Dutourd" - the other, in blank verse, to Gérald Maurois, dated December 5, 1974: “And a quatrain for my Gégé / Who took this little work / And then, on the wall of his little room / Lovingly hung it up / Jean” It also includes an article by Maurice Toesca that appeared in *L’Intransigeant* on January 21, 1956, concerning a court ruling that convicted the author for using the name “Duglandier de la Bastie” (similar to that of a real officer, Mr. Royer de la Bastie) for a fictional character—a completely minor one, at that—whose name is derived from that of a Balzac hero. The author strongly criticizes this ruling, which he considers absurd and dangerous to the freedom of literary creation. A fine copy, with excellent provenance.