‎VEGA, LOPE de. (Camus transl.).‎
‎Le chevalier d'Olmedo. comédie dramatique en trios journées. Texte francais d' Albert Camus. - [PRESENTATION-COPY]‎

‎(Paris) Gallimard, 1957. 8vo. Bound uncut with the original printed wrappers in an exquisite full red morrocco binding with quadruple gilt lines over boards and spie and gilt lettering to spine (bound by Henning Jensen and gilt by Hagel Olsen). Top edge red. Gilt super ex libris to inside of front board. A splendid, near mint copy in a wonderful, elegant binding. ‎

Reference : 63532

‎First edition - nr. 3089 out of 3265 numbered copies, on alfa Libert (preceded by 65 copies on Lafuma Navarre) - wonderful presentation-copy from Camus to Jean Marchat, of Camus' translation of an early 17th century historical play by the Spanish dramatist Lope de Vega (1562-1635), Le chevalier d'Olmedo (ES: El caballero de Olmedo" EN: The Knight from Olmedo). ""For his historical plays Vega ransacked the medieval chronicle, the romancero, and popular legend and song for heroic themes, chosen for the most part as throwing into relief some aspect either of the national character or of that social solidarity on which contemporary Spain’s greatness rested. The conception of the crown as fount of justice and bulwark of the humble against oppression inspires some of his finest plays. Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña (Peribáñez and the Commander of Ocaña), El mejor alcalde, el rey (The King, the Greatest Alcalde), and Fuente Ovejuna (All Citizens Are Soldiers) are still memorable and highly dramatic vindications of the inalienable rights of the individual, as is El caballero de Olmedo (The Knight from Olmedo) on a more exalted social plane."" (see britannica.com) Camus selected this play along with his own Caligula for the Festival D'Angers – founded in 1950 and still existing today as Festival D'Anjou – of which he was, together with Jean Marchat, artistic director in 1953, where he had translated the play La dévotion de la croix (EN: Devotion to the Cross), by Calderon de la Barca, who succeeded de Vega. Camus returned as artistic director again in 1957: ""For the month of June 1957, Camus had once more agreed to direct plays at the Festival D'Angers for the Théâtre des Mathurins. He told Maria Casarès that it was sheer baraka – Arabic for 'divine favor', but that baraka also meant seventy rehearsals [...]. He had gone over it line by line with Maria Casarès, and he was to spend the final weeks of that winter of 1957 polishing it"" (Lottman: 595). Starring the play were ""Michel Herbault in the title role, the knight who is murdered by his treacherous rival, Don Rodrigo, played by Jorris" Jean-Pierre Marielle" and Dominique Blanchar."" (Lottman: 597) After WWII, Albert Camus (1913-1960) became, as a novelist and playwright, moralist and political theorist, ""the spokesman of his own generation and the mentor of the next, not only in France but also in Europe and eventually the world"" (Cruickshank 2026).Jean Marchat (1902-1966) was a French actor and stage director, who had starred in the festival in 1953 in the Calderón play. Together with marcel Herrand, he was associate director of the Théâtre des Mathurins between 1939–1953. The presenation-inscription reads: ""pour toi, mon cher Jean / qui a présenté / à la cour d'Angers / avec l'affection de / ton vieil ami / Albert Camus"". Sources and further reading: Aronson, Ronald. (Winter 2022 Edition). Albert Camus. In Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2022/entries/camus/ Britannica Editors (2026, August 23). Lope de Vega. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lope-de-Vega Cruickshank, J. (2026, July 31). Albert Camus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Camus Lottman, H. R. (1979). Albert Camus: A biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Todd, O. (1998). Albert Camus: A life (B. Ivry, Trans.). Vintage. Zaretsky, Robert (4 March 2018). 'No Longer the Person I Was': The Dazzling Correspondence of Albert Camus and Maria Casarès. Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 04 September 2026.‎