Le Sourire au Pied de l'Échelle (INSCRIBED)

MILLER, Henry.

Le Sourire au Pied de l'Échelle.

FIRST FRENCH EDITION. Paris: Éditions Corrêa, 1953.

The inscribee "Toby" has been suggested to be Webster F. "Toby" Street, the Monterey attorney and Stanford friend of John Steinbeck; the identification is unverified. Small 8vo. 133 pp. Text in French and English (translation by G. Belmont), with a frontispiece photo-plate of the author. Color photo-illustrated wrappers. Light wear and creasing to the covers; a very good copy in the original wrappers.

The first French edition of Henry Miller's The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder, his short fable of a clown — first published in English in 1948 — here in the bilingual Corrêa edition. Inscribed by Miller on the half-title: "For Toby from Henry 5/7/58," with a further note in his hand below: "Note: English text has some printer's errors." A warm, characteristic Miller inscription with his own wry caveat about the text.

SKU TO-2026-049