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A SHORT HISTORY
Pascal Guignard, who
shepherded the Promeneur towards Gallimard
in 1991, wrote the first book in the imprint.
Whose work could better represent the links
between reading and writing, the work of
the imagination and the use of libraries ?
In fact, in Promeneur, "the producer
(often) wears the mask of the consumer"
as Pierre Levi wrote about Cyril Connolly.
These words could just as easily have applied
to Gérard Macé and his aptly
named Colportages.
Small and often illustrated,
the books in the "Cabinet" present
short texts that either belong to short
forms of writing (folk tales, biographies,
epigrams…), or excerpts from lengthier
works. Together with the rarity of some
texts, these choices explain the frequent
contribution of experts or (very) enlightened
amateurs.
Eclecticism and focus on a number
of themes and authors define the imprint.
There is particular interest in personalities
such as Pierre Herbart, a Gide's friend,
whose work has been re-edited by the "Cabinet".
Like "Le Promeneur", Herbart is
interested in English literature (De Quincey's
romanticism, Lytton Strachey's Bloomsbury
francophilia or Connolly's jokes), Italian
literature (Soldati, Manganelli and Andrea
Camilleri's spicy historical 'essays') and
seventeenth and eighteenth century French
literature… There is also an interest
in art history with old documents (biographies,
treatises, studies) and contemporary essays
on aesthetics taking pride of place, as
well as everything connected to the art
of daily life: interior design, make up
and other accessories… Illustrators
and artists contribute to the imprint, from
the notebooks of Pierre Le-Tan to the illustrated
books of Edward Gorey. Not surprisingly,
then, the imprint has published many biographies
and essays about famous or forgotten writers.
It is worth mentioning the writings
(anthologies, chronicles, curiosities) on
antiquity and ancient times, especially
Chinese and Japanese. To date a book about
Zen is the most successful publication in
the imprint. Very often, as is the case
today, the idea is to explore a period tangentially
(through an insignificant detail, an inscription
on a stone, a fragment of memoirs…),
an aspect of everyday life or of the art
of a period.
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