New Addition: Jarry's 'Ubu Roi'

Alfred Jarry, Ubu Roi; ou les polonais (Ubu Imperator: or, The Polish). 1922. 12th Printing. Charpentier & Fasquelle: Paris. [Original publication 1896]

Alfred Jarry, the discoverer of 'Pataphysics, was one of the key links between the 19th and 20th Century avant-gardes and a major precursor of Dada and Surrealism; the brutally absurd, violently childlike, anarchic play Ubu Roi was his most scandalous and thus well-known work. The three previous editions are virtually unobtainable; this edition is published by Charpentier, which throughout the 19th Century had published avant-garde works once their authors' reputations had begun to be established (this archive contains many Charpentier books), had recently been bought by Fasquelle, which would go on to serve an analogous function in the 20th Century. The first edition had been small and the second moderate in its run, and the centrality of Dada (which ended the year this book was published) in the francophone avant-garde meant that Jarry was becoming central to the anti-tradition. This edition was printed to satisfy that demand, and is the one that introduced most of the youth who would flock to the banners of Surrealism, the Grand Jeu, the College of Sociology and indeed the College of 'Pataphysics itself. This copy is completely cut, and has been read in its entirety; nothing is known of its original reader.