Une histoire de monde en 10 chapitres 1/2 | A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (Mercure de France/Folio, 2011; French)


Notes on this edition: Une histoire de monde en 10 chapitres 1/2. Paris: Mercure de France, 2011. Translated into French by Michel Courtois-Fourcy.

Spine and back cover indicate this is a Folio imprint, no. 5612.

La Doulou | In the Land of Pain (Mercure de France, 2007)


Notes on this edition: Daudet, Alphonse. La Doulou. Paris: Mercure de France, 2007. Pp. 123 [124] + [4]. 16 x 10 cm. ISBN: 9782715228191. (French).

In 2002, Barnes translated Daudet’s journal into English, which brought renewed attention to Daudet’s work. This edition of Daudet’s La Doulou features a preface by Julian Barnes, his additional notes on the text, and his postscript, as was available in Barnes’s translation under the English title In the Land of Pain.

Tout fout le camp! | Going to the Dogs (Actes Sud, 1994; French)


Notes on this edition: Dan Kavanagh. Tout fout le camp! Arles: Actes Sud, 1994. Pp. 216 [217] + [7]. 18 x 10.8 cm. Translated by Christine le Bœuf. ISBN: 2020198592. (French).

The French translation of Dan Kavanagh’s forth (and final) crime novel Going to the Dogs features a plot-appropriate illustration to the front cover. Of special interest is the silhouetted figure on the back cover of the author wearing a fedora, cigarette in mouth, typing at a manual typewriter. He also appears to be wearing glasses, which would be unusual, as neither photograph of the author on his official website shows him wearing spectacles.