Outsider, The – Albert Camus
VG/VG

For sale: a rare and exceptional first UK edition, early printing hardcover copy of The Outsider by Albert Camus. First Edition stated, 1946 Hamish Hamilton. Sixth Printing, August 1960 with four previous reprints listed prior.

The book is in Near Fine condition with clean, bright boards with a strong sheen, strong title gilt on a concave spine with a deep crease, tight binding, moderate to heavy spine tilt, rolled spine ends, Some soiling on the lightly foxed page blocks, heavy edge wear, and rubbed corners. The interior of the book is in Very Good condition with the previous owner’s name and date on the unevenly toned first free end paper. The rear end paper is also unevenly toned and the interior pages are clean and lightly toned, making it an excellent addition to any collection.

The dust jacket is also in Very Good condition with mild surface wear, heavy edge wear, a sunned spine and the UK price on the front flap. Looks great in a new Brodart archival wrap.

The Stranger, also published in English as The Outsider, is a 1942 novella written by French author Albert Camus. The first of Camus’s novels published in his lifetime, the story follows Meursault, an indifferent settler in French Algeria, who, weeks after his mother’s funeral, kills an unnamed Arab man in Algiers. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault’s first-person narrative before and after the killing.