Bernard Grasset, a publisher born in 1881, founded his house at twenty-six. He was the first to sell a novel the way one sells a product: advertising bought in the press, journalists served as a matter of course, twenty-year-old authors pushed ahead of the established glories. In 1913, four houses had already turned down Du côté de chez Swann. Proust offered to pay for the printing, and the book came out in November.
The story
Born in 1881, Bernard Grasset founded his Éditions Nouvelles in 1907, at twenty-six. He came into a cautious trade with methods that were not.
He was the first to treat a book as something to be advertised: review copies sent out as a matter of course, advertising in the papers, young authors pushed in front of established names. A good part of the French literary machinery of the twentieth century is his.
By 1913, Du côté de chez Swann had been turned down by Fasquelle, by Ollendorff and by the Nouvelle Revue française, on André Gide's advice. Marcel Proust offered to pay for it himself. Grasset agreed: the book came out on 14 November.
Radiguet, Giraudoux and Mauriac followed: the house became one of the great ones of its century.
Arrested in 1944 for collaboration, he was sentenced four years later to national degradation for life and the confiscation of his property, and was not amnestied until 1953. He sold the capital of his house to Hachette in 1954, died the following year, and lies in Division 88, avenue Transversale n°3, ninth row, under a stone that carries only a name and two dates.
The grave
A sober tomb, whose inscription is limited to the essential: “Bernard GRASSET, 1881-1955”. No mention of the publishing house that still bears his name, nor of Proust, nor of Radiguet, nor of Mauriac. The man who invented French literary publicity let nothing be written on his own stone.
On site, do not miss
A sober stone — “Bernard GRASSET, 1881-1955” — for the man without whom the first volume of the Search would not have appeared in 1913. Nothing there names a single one of his authors.
Visitors' questions
Where is Bernard Grasset's grave?
In Division 88, Avenue Transversale No. 3, ninth row, beneath a plain stone: “Bernard GRASSET, 1881-1955”. The Division is also that of the painter Marie Laurencin and the trade unionist Léon Jouhaux.
Marie LaurencinWhat is the link between Bernard Grasset and Marcel Proust?
Grasset published Swann's Way in November 1913, at the author's expense, after it had been turned down by Ollendorff, Fasquelle and the Nouvelle Revue française, on André Gide's advice. That first volume opened the way for In Search of Lost Time.
Marcel ProustWhat did Bernard Grasset invent in publishing?
Literary publicity. Systematic review copies, advertisements in the newspapers, young authors pushed ahead of the safe bets: his methods of 1907 became the norm of the trade. He discovered Radiguet, Giraudoux and Mauriac.
Raymond RadiguetWhat became of Bernard Grasset after the war?
Arrested in 1944 for collaboration, he was sentenced four years later to national degradation for life and to the confiscation of his property, and was not amnestied until 1953. He sold the capital of his firm to Hachette in 1954 and died the following year, at seventy-four. The house he founded in 1907 still bears his name.
Léon JouhauxAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99