# Is "Huis clos (No Exit)" by Jean-Paul Sartre a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Huis clos (No Exit) by Jean-Paul Sartre (Gallimard, Paris, 1945) is identified by: First book edition and first appearance under the definitive title: 'Huis clos, piece en un acte, par Jean-Paul Sartre', [Paris], Gallimard (NRF), [1945]. The French original (Gallimard, Paris, 1945) has precedence over all translations; the census claim is correct on the original.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First book edition and first appearance under the definitive title: 'Huis clos, piece en un acte, par Jean-Paul Sartre', [Paris], Gallimard (NRF), [1945]. Library of Congress collation: 5 preliminary leaves, pp
- 13-122, [1] p., 2 leaves, 19 cm; issued broche (paperbound) at roughly 12.5 x 19 cm in NRF wrappers
- The single play only — a volume pairing it with 'Les Mouches' is a later Gallimard collected issue, not the original
- The limitation is the operative point: 24 numbered copies on Madagascar (the tirage de tete) and 2,250 numbered copies on chataignier, the chataignier being the only printing after the Madagascar — no other large-paper state is recorded, so the justification leaf and its number are what identify the original tirage
- Trade listings date the acheve d'imprimer 19 March 1945
- No printing statement or number line is used
- Publisher imprint reads Gallimard, Paris

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jean-Paul Sartre |
| Publisher | Gallimard, Paris |
| Year | 1945 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First book edition and first appearance under the definitive title: 'Huis clos, piece en un acte, par Jean-Paul Sartre', [Paris], Gallimard… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First book edition and first appearance under the definitive title: 'Huis clos, piece en un acte, par Jean-Paul Sartre', [Paris], Gallimard (NRF), [1945]. Library of Congress collation: 5 preliminary leaves, pp. 13-122, [1] p., 2 leaves, 19 cm; issued broche (paperbound) at roughly 12.5 x 19 cm in NRF wrappers. The single play only — a volume pairing it with 'Les Mouches' is a later Gallimard collected issue, not the original. The limitation is the operative point: 24 numbered copies on Madagascar (the tirage de tete) and 2,250 numbered copies on chataignier, the chataignier being the only printing after the Madagascar — no other large-paper state is recorded, so the justification leaf and its number are what identify the original tirage. Trade listings date the acheve d'imprimer 19 March 1945. No printing statement or number line is used. Note the pre-original: the text was first printed, under the earlier title 'Les Autres', in the review L'Arbalete no. 8 (Marc Barbezat, Lyon, spring/April 1944) — the same issue that carried the pre-original of Genet's 'Notre-Dame des Fleurs' — before the play's 27 May 1944 premiere at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier. That is a periodical appearance, not a book, and does not displace the 1945 Gallimard as the first edition.

## Is this the true first?
The French original (Gallimard, Paris, 1945) has precedence over all translations; the census claim is correct on the original. But the census note that the first English-language book appearance is Knopf's 'No Exit and The Flies' (1947) is WRONG — it names the first American edition, not the first English one. The first English-language book appearance is Hamish Hamilton, London, 1946: 'The Flies and In Camera', translated by Stuart Gilbert, in which Huis clos appears under the British title 'In Camera'. Knopf (New York, 1947) followed with the same Gilbert translation as 'No Exit (Huis Clos)... and The Flies'; it is a stated first American edition, and its own copyright page records the prior 1946 Hamish Hamilton British publication — which is how the precedence can be checked in the book itself. Both English editions are collected, so name both: Hamish Hamilton 1946 (London, first in English, as 'In Camera') and Knopf 1947 (New York, first American, as 'No Exit').

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the Gallimard original. The traps are format-based rather than club-based: later Gallimard printings and the Collection Blanche / Folio reissues carry no justification of tirage, so a copy without a limitation leaf and number is not from the original 1945 printing. Gallimard reissues from 1947 onward, including volumes pairing Huis clos with Les Mouches, are later. Neither the Hamish Hamilton 1946 nor the Knopf 1947 is a printing of the French original — they are separate translated editions. And 'Les Autres' in L'Arbalete no. 8 (1944) is a review issue, not a book edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Huis clos (No Exit)* by Jean-Paul Sartre a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/huis-clos-no-exit
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.