Roland Barthes // Leçon

Inscribed First Edition                                                                                                         

8.10 x 5.5 in (205 X 138 mm). 1 vol. of 43 pages [3] p.

Regular trade issue after a deluxe edition of 55 copies.

Inscribed by Barthes: “pour Tom Bishop avec beaucoup d’amitié Roland Barthes” (“ to Tom Bishop, with much affection Roland Barthes”).

Bishop (1929-2022) was the Florence Lacaze Gould Professor of French Literature at New York University, former Director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture and former long-held Chair of the French Department. He spent 63 years teaching at NYU – the longest tenure of any professor at the University – and served as a “cultural ambassador” between France and the United States.

He wrote extensively on the work of pivotal figures of the French Avant- Garde and modern culture, such as Samuel Beckett, Sartre, Camus, etc. and received numerous honors during his career, including the highest honors of the French Republic – notably, the Légion d’Honneur.

He and Barthes exchanged correspondence in 1978-1979 after an invitation extended to Barthes to give a lecture at NYU. Bishop edited the 2003 book “Remembering Roland Barthes... 20 Years Later”, published by NYU.

Original wrappers, stain to bottom of spine and rear, and the inside front cover; good + condition otherwise.

Leçon is the inaugural lecture delivered by Barthes at the Collège de France on January 7, 1977.