This was the last volume, and Part, of Proust's masterpiece A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PENDU (REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST), first published in French over the years 1913-1927 (Proust himself died of pneumonia in 1922). Largely due to this epic, Proust is considered to be a pioneer of the modern novel, with his use of free-flowing memory in the central role; certainly James Joyce and Virginia Woolf owed much to him.

The seven titles were first published in the English language in London, as follows:

SWANN'S WAY, two volumes, Chatto & Windus 1922

WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE, two volumes, Chatto & Windus 1924

THE GUERMANTES WAY, two volumes, Chatto & Windus 1925

CITIES OF THE PLAIN, two volumes, Alfred A. Knopf 1929

THE CAPTIVE, one volume, Alfred A. Knopf 1929

THE SWEET CHEAT GONE, one volume, Alfred A. Knopf 1930

TIME REGAINED, one volume, Chatto & Windus 1931

Although there were seven titles published in eleven volumes, Proust considered the work to consist of eight "Parts" (the first volume of THE GUERMANTES WAY forms Part III, its second volume plus the first volume of CITIES OF THE PLAIN forms Part IV, and its second volume forms Part V); thus TIME REGAINED is identified on its half-title as "Part Eight."

This copy of TIME REGAINED, bound in a drab unprinted wrapper, does not bear the name or logo of Chatto & Windus on its title page; instead it bears the name of Alfred A. Knopf, with his borzoi logo. There are a couple of other differences, as well. On the half-title, there is a short two-line quotation in English, but not the additional multi-line quotation in French that appears in a standard Chatto & Windus copy. On the verso of the title page, this copy has the same language at the top indicating that this is one of 1300 (1250 numbered) copies, but this copy is blank after "This is copy number". At the bottom of this page it reads "Printed in the British Isles | for Alfred A. Knopf Limited | By the Star and | Gazette Co. Limited | Guernsey, C.I."; in the Chatto & Windus published form, the line referring to Knopf is omitted.

A bit of Knopf history is required... Alfred A. Knopf founded his publishing house in New York in 1915, and by the mid-1920s it was doing so well that he opened a London office in 1926. From the list of Proust books above, it is apparent that Knopf managed to swing the publication of REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST away from Chatto & Windus, with the result that the next three titles, published in 1929 and 1930, were by Knopf of London. However, perhaps he was paying too much for such successes -- for financial problems plagued Knopf's London operation from the beginning. These problems finally forced its liquidation, which began in 1931 with the remaindering of stock on hand and the sale of author contracts to other publishers. Obviously, all of this happened right in the middle of the publication of Proust's final volume, TIME REGAINED. Knopf began the process of publication with a few advance reading copies such as this, bound in wrappers, but then sold the rights to Chatto & Windus before the book was actually published.

How many such copies survive is unknown; it certainly is scarce in this state, especially as it is still in its original drab wrapper. Condition is near-fine (a couple of faint creases in the front wrapper, a few tiny edge chips).