VIALATTE (Alexandre). The Fruits of the Congo. Novel. Paris: Gallimard, [1951]. — In-8, 208 x 140: 332 pp., (2 leaves, the last one blank), printed cover. Paperback First edition. “*Les Fruits du Congo* is a poster. It depicts a magnificent ‘black woman’ carrying golden lemons. Middle school students in a town in Auvergne gaze dreamily at this poster, which for them symbolizes adventure and the profound poetry of existence. What is adolescence? That is the question Alexandre Vialatte answers with this great novel. In fact, he doesn’t answer it: he shows us adolescence, with its extravagances, its sublime aspirations, its melancholic loves; he also shows us an entire provincial town with its fairs, its murderer, its doctor, its high school, and its park” (please insert). Press copy, featuring this autographed note signed by the author on the first blank page, addressed to the writer and journalist Gilbert Guilleminault (1914–1990): To Mr. // Gilbert Guilleminault // as a collegial tribute // Paris, September 27, 1951 // Vialatte Copy includes the insert. Stains on the cover. Pages discolored.