LEIRIS (Michel). - Lot 160

LEIRIS (Michel). L’Afrique fantôme. Paris: Librairie Gallimard, [1934]. — In-8, 227 x 140: 525 pp., (2 ff.), 32 plates, illustrated cover. Paperback, modern slipcase. First edition of the travel journal documenting Michel Leiris’s journey from Dakar to Djibouti from 1931 to 1933. “These notes—taken during the ethnographic and linguistic expedition led by Marcel Griaule from Dakar to Djibouti and published with virtually no editing—are not a historical account of that mission. They are simply a personal diary. You will find that in many places I come across as peculiar, sorrowful, difficult, biased—even unfair—inhuman (or ‘human, all too human’), ungrateful, a false brother, and who knows what else? My aim has been, day by day, to describe this journey as I saw it, and myself as I am…” (p. 9). The edition is illustrated with a map and 31 photographic plates. A press copy, which the author gave to Adrien Borel (1886–1966), inscribed with this autograph dedication on the first blank page: To Dr. Borel, // thanks to whom this book was able to be // written… // Michel Leiris Adrien Borel, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was Leiris’s analyst beginning in 1929, a pivotal year in which the writer broke with Surrealism and turned toward ethnology. This dedication attests to Borel’s decisive influence on his work, as his psychoanalysis liberated Leiris’s voice and shaped his writing style. A very well-preserved copy, largely uncut, featuring the insert. Cover slightly soiled.