Description

FIRST EDITION PRINTED IN FRANCE of this travelogue to Ceylon, which won the Prix des Critiques.
A Swiss edition was published by Bertil Galland in October 1981.

AUTOGRAPHIC SENT to Thierry Vernet and his wife Floristella Stephani :

For Thierry and Floristella,
the little fish in his new clothes.
Love.
Nicolas Bouvier
1982.

Thierry Vernet was the friend, travelling companion and illustrator of  The Use of the World (1963), the author's masterpiece, which recounts their adventures in a Fiat Topolino, from Belgrade to Kabul, through Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Thierry Vernet joined Floristella in Ceylon, and Nicolas Bouvier continued on alone through India to China. But the road was closed for political reasons, so he went to Ceylon where, sick and depressed, he stayed for nine months. He would not publish this part of his journey until 25 years later in The Scorpion Fish.

A moving provenance, probably the most important for Nicolas Bouvier.