# Is "Man's Fate" by André Malraux a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Man's Fate by André Malraux (Gallimard, 1933) is identified by: The true first is the French edition, La Condition humaine, issued in volume by Gallimard (Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française), Paris, in 1933 (Prix Goncourt, 1933). French true first: Gallimard, Paris, 1933 (La Condition humaine).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the French edition, La Condition humaine, issued in volume by Gallimard (Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française), Paris, in 1933 (Prix Goncourt, 1933)
- The édition originale has a limited large-paper issue preceding the ordinary printing — 339 copies on vélin pur fil Lafuma-Navarre, plus 1 on Chine and about 39 on pur fil — the trade first being in printed wrappers with the 'achevé d'imprimer' leaf
- The first American edition (Haakon M. Chevalier translation), titled Man's Fate, was published by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934: octavo, original cream cloth, spine and covers lettered in cream and black with black decorations, top edge black, other edges untrimmed, in a priced dust jacket
- Publisher imprint reads Gallimard
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | André Malraux |
| Publisher | Gallimard |
| Year | 1933 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the French edition, La Condition humaine, issued in volume by Gallimard (Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française), Paris… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first is the French edition, La Condition humaine, issued in volume by Gallimard (Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française), Paris, in 1933 (Prix Goncourt, 1933). The édition originale has a limited large-paper issue preceding the ordinary printing — 339 copies on vélin pur fil Lafuma-Navarre, plus 1 on Chine and about 39 on pur fil — the trade first being in printed wrappers with the 'achevé d'imprimer' leaf. The first American edition (Haakon M. Chevalier translation), titled Man's Fate, was published by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York, 1934: octavo, original cream cloth, spine and covers lettered in cream and black with black decorations, top edge black, other edges untrimmed, in a priced dust jacket.

## Is this the true first?
French true first: Gallimard, Paris, 1933 (La Condition humaine). In English (both 1934) the novel appeared under two different titles from two publishers, and both are collected: Man's Fate (Chevalier translation; Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York) and Storm in Shanghai (Alastair MacDonald translation; Methuen, London — later reissued 1948 as Man's Estate). These are distinct translations, not shared sheets; priority between the two 1934 English editions is not firmly settled.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
'First thus' trap: the Chevalier text was reissued in 1934 within the Modern Library (Modern Library #33). Modern Library copies show their own series points (balloon-cloth bindings, ML colophon/torchbearer endpapers) and are commonly mistaken for the true first — they are not.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Man's Fate* by André Malraux a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mans-fate
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.