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A SHORT HISTORY
"Le Promeneur"
was first used for the title of a journal
founded in 1981 by a young Ecole Normale
graduate Patrick Mauriès, who was
a disciple of Roland Barthes and soon to
run the literary section of Libération.
With his friend Michèle Hechter and
support from editor Franco Maria Ricci (with
whom he was to launch the prestigious journal,
FMR), he created and ran this little eighteenth
century style journal. The journal became
a publishing house in 1988 linked to Editions
du Quai Voltaire, later moving to Gallimard
as an imprint.
An enlightened book lover, Patrick
Mauriès took a great deal of care
over the production quality of his editorial
projects. He entrusted the graphic design
of the imprint to the Milanese designer
Pier Luigi Cerri.
Put together like a curiosity
cabinet, the “Promeneur” library
showcases the enthusiasm of its chief architect
as well as the strength of his tastes. First
preference is for tales of travel, memoirs
and chronicles from modern and revolutionary
times… Mauriès has also tried
to find a new audience for the almost forgotten
work of Vivant Denon. Closer to us, “Le
Promeneur” felt compelled to publish
François Sentein’s novel Minutes,
the ‘black sheep’ life of a young
man’s under the Occupation. Although
sensitive to all kinds of “marginality”,
the imprint is also open to so called ‘deviant’
practices and expressions (drugs with Schivelbusch,
les Gays Savoirs) as well as to the
neglected works of major writers (les Césars
by the opium smoker De Quincey, les Salons
by Stendhal).
Eclectic but not unstructured,
“Le Promeneur” invites the reader
to explore acknowledged, but now rare, works
such as publication of the complete works
of Heinrich von Kleist or poet Olivier Larronde,
and the reprinting of several texts written
by Louise de Vilmorin. Another important
area is twentieth century Italian literature,
from novels by ex-futurist Palazzeschi and
their original translation by Giovanni Comisso,
to great post-war novelists such as Solddati
and Flaiano. Contemporary writing is represented
by the first author to be published by the
imprint, Sicilian Vincenzo Consolo, but
also by Manganelli, member of the very experimental
“Groupe 63”, and Rosetta Loy.
Also a fine connoisseur of Anglo-Saxon
literature, Patrick Mauriès introduced
the Bloomsbury circle to French speaking
readers and supported the work of one of
the finest men of letters in England today,
P. Ackroyd. Quite different are the works
of the Austrian F. Glauser, creator of rough
inspector, Jacob Studer.
Finally, one must not forget
art works and art criticism. Artists’
albums and notebooks, essays and various
documents compose the structure of an imprint
shaped by a director with real aesthetic
sensibility.
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