La Planète des Singes

La Planète des Singes (1963) is the first edition of Pierre Boulle's celebrated satirical novel, published in the original French before its English translation appeared the same year. A French journalist named Ulysse Mérou travels to a distant planet orbiting Betelgeuse and finds a civilization in which apes are the dominant intelligent species and humans have devolved into mute, primitive animals, hunted, caged, and used as laboratory subjects. The ape society is rigidly hierarchical with gorillas serving as soldiers and enforcers, orangutans as conservative academics and bureaucrats, and chimpanzees as scientists and progressive thinkers. The novel operates as Voltairean satire, using the inverted world of Soror to hold a mirror up to humanity's own tendencies for cruelty toward whatever it deems lesser. It was the basis for the landmark 1968 film starring Charlton Heston.

Published by Le Cercle du nouveau livre, Paris, printed January 8, 1963 at the Imprimeries Oberthur in Rennes. A numbered limited edition, this copy being number 852. No dust jacket as issued.

Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, green cloth stamped in gold and blind. Paris: Le Cercle du nouveau livre, 1963. #11449.
Near fine. Slight fading to edges of cloth.