# Is "Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932) is identified by: French true first: Voyage au bout de la nuit, Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932 — 623 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's announcements, released 5 October 1932. The French Denoël et Steele edition of 1932 is the true first — the book missed the Goncourt and took the Renaudot, which drove the immediate reprints.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- French true first: Voyage au bout de la nuit, Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932 — 623 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's announcements, released 5 October 1932
- The limitation comprises a service-de-presse issue (about 200 copies, printed 12 October 1932 per the printer's records), then Arches copies (23, of which 10 numbered) and Alfa copies (219, of which 100 numbered); the ordinary-paper (papier d'édition) issue is the one usually met
- First-printing points on ordinary paper: the four leaves of publisher's catalogue bound at the end, printed grey-blue (later reprints use green) and carrying the false mention "153e Edition"; the uncorrected misprint at page 59, "maison du pasteur" for "maison du passeur"; and a reversed/inverted "m" at page 150 (a further error at the foot of page 541 is also recorded)
- All were corrected in 1933
- Issued in printed wrappers with a red publisher's band quoting Molly ("C'est le voyageur solitaire qui va le plus loin"); from December 1932 the band was reprinted on green paper announcing the Prix Renaudot, so a green band marks a later state
- Because the 1932 reimpressions were struck from the same plates and carry the same title-page date, the catalogue leaves and the page-59 misprint — not the date — do the identification
- Publisher imprint reads Denoël et Steele, Paris

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Louis-Ferdinand Céline |
| Publisher | Denoël et Steele, Paris |
| Year | 1932 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | French true first: Voyage au bout de la nuit, Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932 — 623 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's announcements, released… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
French true first: Voyage au bout de la nuit, Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1932 — 623 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's announcements, released 5 October 1932. The limitation comprises a service-de-presse issue (about 200 copies, printed 12 October 1932 per the printer's records), then Arches copies (23, of which 10 numbered) and Alfa copies (219, of which 100 numbered); the ordinary-paper (papier d'édition) issue is the one usually met. First-printing points on ordinary paper: the four leaves of publisher's catalogue bound at the end, printed grey-blue (later reprints use green) and carrying the false mention "153e Edition"; the uncorrected misprint at page 59, "maison du pasteur" for "maison du passeur"; and a reversed/inverted "m" at page 150 (a further error at the foot of page 541 is also recorded). All were corrected in 1933. Issued in printed wrappers with a red publisher's band quoting Molly ("C'est le voyageur solitaire qui va le plus loin"); from December 1932 the band was reprinted on green paper announcing the Prix Renaudot, so a green band marks a later state. Because the 1932 reimpressions were struck from the same plates and carry the same title-page date, the catalogue leaves and the page-59 misprint — not the date — do the identification. First edition in English: Chatto & Windus, London, 1934, translated by John H. P. Marks. First American: Little, Brown, Boston, 1934, same Marks translation, in publisher's original black cloth with gilt spine lettering, in a priced jacket whose red spine printing characteristically fades.

## Is this the true first?
The French Denoël et Steele edition of 1932 is the true first — the book missed the Goncourt and took the Renaudot, which drove the immediate reprints. Both 1934 English editions are collected and both should be named: Chatto & Windus, London is recorded by the trade (Bauman Rare Books, ABAA) as the first edition in English, and Little, Brown, Boston is the first American of the same year, so the UK edition precedes on the evidence consulted, though the two appeared close enough together that dealers rarely fix a month. Later English retranslations are "first thus" only.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1932 Denoël et Steele first or for either 1934 English edition in the sources consulted. The reprint traps are all domestic to the French issue: the same-year reimpressions share plates and title-page date and are separated only by the catalogue leaves (grey-blue versus green) and the uncorrected misprints, and dealers additionally record offset printings bearing the year of the original that reproduce the page-59 error — so the catalogue leaves must be present and examined, not just the text points.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Journey to the End of the Night* by Louis-Ferdinand Céline a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/journey-to-the-end-of-the-night
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.