CITIES OF THE PLAIN by Proust Marcel - 1927

New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1927. 2 volumes. First Edition, American Issue, one of 2000 numbered copies only. 8vo, publisher’s original white cloth over striped boards of silver and black, housed in the original silver covered slipcase. [8], 352; [6], 384 pp. A very fine set, as pristine, the slipcase with a bit of age, the books perfect. FIRST EDITION FROM MARCEL PROUST’S MAGNUM OPUS, REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST. RANKED BY SOME AS THE FINEST ACHIEVEMENT OF THE 20TH CENTURY NOVEL. CITIES OF THE PLAIN is a translation of “Sodome et Gomorrhe I" from the fourth part and a portion of "Sodome et Gomorrhe II" from the fifth part.
It took 13 years to write “The Remembrance” in its entirety, as Proust worked on it from 1909-1922. At first he was worried that it might end up at a total of 1,000 pages. Instead, when he finished it , it was in excess of 3,000. In 1912 the manuscript of SWANN’S WAY was rejected by the publishers of the Nouvelle Revue Francaise and Andre Gide was forever after to consider it his greatest regret to have misjudged the importance of this great masterwork.