Imprint's Gallimard

Founded : May 1911
Number of titles published : 6 500
Number of authors published : 1 800 (excluding joint authorship)
Sales to date : 70 million copies
Best seller : Albert Cohen, Belle de Seigneur (1968): 515 000 copies

"Gallimard Publishing played an important part in my life, as it did for many people. In a way, it was like a set of arguments which in one stroke might have dissuaded the Almighty from putting an end to a world I often painted in the colours of the NRF - two red lines and one black one."
(Jean d'Ormesson, Le Rapport Gabriel, Gallimard, 1999)

Which imprint, although not really an imprint, can boast the most prestigious line up of twentieth century French literature ? "La Blanche" undoubtedly - whose history, as we'll see, flows into the history of the NRF. "La Blanche" is Gallimard's hallmark, tying it symbolically to the early days of one of the greatest publishing adventures of the century. The appeal is still strong: Gallimard receives around 6 000 manuscripts a year! For some, it will always remain the Proust or Gide imprint, while for others it means the Malraux, Camus, or Sartre imprint. And for yet others, it is the imprint of La Belle du Seigneur, du Roi des Aulnes, or even Vies minuscules or Miette. This is impressive company, even if it did not spawn a following.
"La Blanche" has not had its own director, its programme being closely linked to the life of the publishing house itself - a carefully measured, and filtered flow, feeding on the input of thousands of voices and encounters. Novels and stories have pride of place, alongside books of poetry, criticism, journals, literary correspondence and complete works (Artaud, Bataille).

THE FIRST TITLE
Paul Claudel. L'Otage (May 26, 1911).


>	All imprint's titles

IN BRIEF
"La Blanche" publishes on average nine first novels a year.

The first mock-up of the cover was not new: the Bruges printer had already used it in 1908 for the Phalange publishers.

As the NRF acquired various publishers' lists and writers joined Gallimard, the imprint was being gradually enriched by previously published major works, such as Voyage au bout de la nuit by Céline or Mémoires d'Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar…

Very few covers in the "Blanche" imprint are illustrated, as were for example, Ramuz's Paris (1939) and Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma (1998).

"Blanche" has become mythical, like the "Série noire", novel making in the raw, a place where stories are told" according to Daniel Pennac, who was one of the writers of "Série noire" to don the colours of "Blanche". Soon others followed : Benacquista, Daeninckx…

A victim of its own success, the imprint has often been unduly plagiarised. However, there have been a few in-house authorised graphical declensions : "Bibliothèque blanche" for children (1965) and "La Noire" (1992) for detective novels.…

A SHORT HISTORY
  The review La NRF was started in 1908 by a group of writers close to André Gide. Adding a publishing branch fulfilled the review's writers' dreams to see their work published. The title "Blanche" refers to the colour of the cover of the first volumes published, which was cream and not yellow as it is today.
  Bruges printer Verbeke designed the mock-up in 1911. It eschews all ornamentation. Gide wrote : "I expect this project to be a great cleansing of literature (and typography too)." While the typography of the imprint resembles that of the review, the cover is distinctive with its single black line and double red line frame. The design was finalised between the wars, after the bold Didot typeface was adopted and the framing lines extended to the back of the cover. After 1950 the first synopses began to appear on the cover's fourth page, the bellybands, then in 1961 came illustrated covers. Finally, from 1964 onwards, all the volumes of "La Blanche" were trimmed and bound.
  The history of "la Blanche" is first and foremost the history of the gradual building of Gallimard's list, a place of treasured discoveries and patient elaboration of works. But it is also a link to other imprints, which over the years have nourished it and continue to do so. "La Blanche" clearly demonstrates the contribution editors and writers have made to the collective adventure of the NRF.

THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE... A FEW "BLANCHE" NOVELS AND STORIES
Aragon. Le Paysan de Paris – Aymé. La Jument verte – Beauvoir. Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée – Blanchot. Thomas l'obscur – Bosco. L’Âne culotte – Breton. Nadja – Camus. L'Étranger ; La Peste – Céline. Voyage au bout de la nuit – Cocteau. Thomas l'imposteur – Cohen. Belle du Seigneur – Duras. Un barrage contre le pacifique – Gary. Les Racines du ciel – Genet. Journal du voleur – Gide. Les Caves du Vatican ; Les Faux-monnayeurs – Giono. Un roi sans divertissement ; Le Hussard sur le toit – Guilloux. Le Sang noir – Jouhandeau. Les Pincengrain – Kessel. Le Lion – Larbaud. A.O. Barnabooth. Ses oeuvres complètes – Le Clézio. Le Chercheur d'or – Leiris. Aurora – Mac Orlan. Le Quai des brumes – Malraux. La Condition humaine ; L’Espoir – Martin du Gard. Les Thibault – Modiano. La Place de l'étoile – Montherlant. Les Garçons – Morand. L'Homme pressé – Nimier. Les Épées – Proust. À la recherche du temps perdu – Queneau. Le Chiendent – Quignard. Tous les matins du monde – Romains. Les Copains – Saint-Exupéry. Courrier Sud ; Terre des hommes – Sarraute. Le Planétarium – Sartre. La Nausée ; Les Mots – Simenon. Le Testament Donadieu – Sollers. Femmes – Supervielle. L’Homme de la pampa – Tournier. Vendredi ou les limbes du pacifique – Vialatte. Battling le ténébreux – Yourcenar. Souvenirs pieux.

ESSAYS IN THE "BLANCHE" IMPRINT
Alain. Propos – Aragon. Traité du style – Aron. Le Grand Schisme – Bataille. L'Expérience intérieure – Beauvoir. Le Deuxième Sexe – Bernanos. Nous autres Français – Blanchot. Le Livre à venir – Breton. L'Amour fou – Caillois. Babel – Camus. L'Homme révolté – Claudel. Positions et propositions – Finkielkraut. L'Imparfait du présent – Gide. Retour de l'URSS – Giono. Refus d'obéissance – Giraudoux. Pleins pouvoirs – Glissant. Poétique de la relation – Kundera. L'Art du roman – Larbaud. Ce vice impuni, la lecture – Malraux. L'Homme précaire et la littérature – Memmi. Portrait du colonisé – Merleau-Ponty. Les Aventures de la dialectique – Pennac. Comme un roman – Ponge. L'Atelier contemporain – Poulet. L’Espace proustien – Richard. Terrains de lectur – Rivière. Étude – Rouaud. La Désincarnation – Sartre. Situations – Valéry. Variété.

A SELECTION OF "BLANCHE" POETS
Apollinaire – Bosquet – Char – W. Cliff – Cocteau – Desnos – Éluard – Fargue – Follain – Fombeure – Garcia Lorca – Gaspar – Glissant – Goffette – Grosjean – Guillevic – Jabès – Jaccottet – M. Jacob – Janvier – La Tour du Pin – Mallarmé – Henri Michaux – Norge – Péguy – Ponge – Réda – Roubaud – C. Roy – Saint-John Perse – Stéfan – Stétié – Supervielle – Tardieu – Valéry – Velter.

AWARDS AND PRIZES
35 prix Goncourt, of which À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs by Marcel Proust, La Condition humaine by André Malraux, Week-end à Zuydcoote by Robert Merle, Les Racines du ciel by Romain Gary, Le Roi des Aulnes by Michel Tournier, Rue des Boutiques obscures by Patrick Modiano, Les Noces barbares by Yann Queffelec, Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau, Confidence pour confidence by Paule Constant, Ingrid Caven by Jean-Jacques Schuhl, Rouge Brésil by Jean-Christophe Rufin, Les Bienveillantes by Jonathan Littell...
26 prix Femina, of which Silbermann by Jacques de Lacretelle, Vol de nuit by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Promontoire by Henri Thomas, L'Œuvre au noir by Marguerite Yourcenar, La Deuxième mort de Ramón Mercader by Jorge Semprun, Ciné-roman by Roger Grenier, Sans la miséricorde du Christ by Hector Bianciotti, Le Zèbre by Alexandre Jardin, Jours de colère by Sylvie Germain, Nous sommes éternels by Pierrette Fleutiaux, Le Complexe de Di by Dai Sijie...
14 prix Renaudot, of which La Table-aux-crevés by Marcel Aymé, Le Jeu de patience by Louis Guilloux, La Place by Annie Ernaux, Hadriana dans tous mes rêves by René Depestre...
14 prix Interallié, of which La Conspiration by Paul Nizan, Au Bon beurre by Jean Dutourd, Les Élans du cœur by Félicien Marceau, Les Poneys sauvages by Michel Déon, L'Étudiant étranger by Philippe Labro, Les Causes perdues by Jean-Christophe Rufin...
11 prix Médicis, of which John Perkins by Henri Thomas, Sa femme by Emmanuèle Bernheim, L'Organisation by Jean Rolin, Les Sept noms du peintre by Philippe Le Guillou, Le Voyage en France by Benoît Duteurtre, La Reine du silence by Marie Nimier...
26 Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française, of which Les Captifs by Joseph Kessel, Terre des hommes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique by Michel Tournier, Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen, Les Boulevards de ceinture by Patrick Modiano, Un taxi mauve by Michel Déon, Une poignée de gens by Anne Wiazemski, Terrasse à Rome by Pascal Quignard, La Princesse de Mantoue by Marie Ferranti, Tout est passé si vite by Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Court serpent by Bernard du Boucheron, Les Bienveillantes by Jonathan Littell...
4 Prix du livre Inter, of which La Petite Marchande de prose by Daniel Pennac and La Petite Chartreuse by Pierre Péju...
2 Prix Décembre, Sarinagara by Philippe Forest, Loués soient nos seigneurs by Régis Debray.

MARKETING INFORMATION
Main sizes : 140 x 205 (soleil) - 118 x 185 (untrimmed) - 150 x 215 (large size) - 185 x 215 (very large size). A few bound titles, with jackets
Number of titles available : 5300
Number of new titles published annually : 69 (ahead of all Gallimard collections, excluding paperbacks)
Number of copies sold per year : 1,2 million
Average selling price : 18 €
Percentage of backlist in total sales : 10 %
Number of backlist titles reprinted annually : 108
Percentage of titles selected for paperback edition : 45 %
Top 15 best sellers :
Albert Cohen. Belle du Seigneur (1968)
Rufin. Rouge Brésil (2002)
Queffelec. Les Noces barbares (1985)
Saint-Exupéry. Vol de nuit (1931)
Camus. La Peste (1947)
Saint-Exupéry. Terre des hommes (1939)
Alexandre Jardin. Le Zèbre (1997)
Camus. L'Étranger (1942)
Pennac. Comme un roman (1992)
Pennac. Monsieur Malaussène (1995)
Sartre. Les Mots (1964)
Kessel. Le Lion (1958)
Malraux. Les Chênes qu'on abat... (1971)
Malraux. La Condition humaine (1933)
Claudel. L'Annonce faite à Marie (1912)