Le mythe de Sisyphe : essai sur l'absurde, 1938-1942

First and only known surviving holograph manuscript draft, corrected, of Camus' essay on the absurd in modern life, discussing human action, freedom, suicide, and the myth of Sisyphus, and including a study of the work of Franz Kafka omitted from the first published edition. Written between 1938 and 1942, with sections on different kinds of paper, the manuscript reflects the exigencies of writing during the war. Bound for Jacques Millot in 1958 by Paul Bonet in full Moroccan leather with the text of a printed version on facing pages (Paris: Gallimard, 1948). The draft lacks the "Kirilov" section addressing themes in Dostoyevsky, and in particular, the character from the novel translated as either The Possessed or The Devils; the printed version of the section, added as an appendix to the 1945 Gallimard edition, is included. Laid in: five section headings in an unidentified hand, possibly in the hand of Jacques Millot; one black-and-white photograph of Camus, copyright by "Lipnitzki"; and a one-page typescript description, signed, by Jacques Millot