Books

First edition in English, first impression. Camus's absurdist treatise on the philosophical problem of suicide was first published as Le Mythe de Sisyphe in 1942 and it forms part of his "cycle de l'absurde". In the new preface, Camus addresses his readers: "Written fifteen years ago, in 1940, amidst the French and European disaster, this book declares that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to find the means to proceed beyond nihilism... This book is in a certain sense the most personal of those I have published in English". This English edition also prints his essays "Summer in Algiers", "The Minotaur, or The Stop in Oran", "Helen's Exile", "Return to Tipasa", and "The Artist and His Time". The translator, Justin O'Brien (1906-1968), was a professor of French at Columbia University who translated many works by Camus and certain works by Jean-Paul Sartre and André Gide, including Gide's collected journals. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in silver. With dust jacket. Ownership inscription of Graham Petrie, Scottish-Canadian academic, writer, and member of Amnesty International, on half-title, dated 1959. Small bump at foot of spine (a production flaw), edges and outer leaves foxed; jacket unclipped, spine panel slightly toned and with trivial stain at foot; a very good copy in near-fine jacket. .

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It explores the concept of the absurd and discusses how one can live a meaningful life despite its inherent meaninglessness.