Bernard Grasset, Bernard Privat and Jean Blanzat

How it all started...

orn in Montpellier in 1881, Bernard Grasset was orphaned when he was a child and brought up by an uncle. Having achieved a Doctorate in Economy, he « went up » to Paris and moved into the Rue Gay Lussac with a friend, Louis Brun. He became a regular at the Café Vachette, where he met Moréas, Faguet, Giraudoux.... In 1907, he founded the Editions Nouvelles and published his first book Mounette, which was followed by several others, often published at the authors' expense. His first success was to be a truly outstanding one, A la manière de.... a collection of pastiches signed Paul Reboux and Charles Muller. Then follow two Goncourt Prize winners in a row : Monsieur des Lourdines by Alphonse de Chateaubriant and Filles de la pluie by André Savignon. He took up residence in 61, Rue des Saints Pères, where Les Editions Grasset are still based today.

In 1913, he published Du côté de chez Swan, by a certain Marcel Proust, at the author's expense. The manuscript had been refused by Mercure, Ollendorf and Fasquelle.

1920 marks the beginning of the good years for Bernard Grasset ; he launched the four Ms : André Maurois, François Mauriac, Henry de Montherland and Paul Morand. In 1921 he entrusted what was to become a prestigious collection, Les Cahiers verts, to Daniel Halévy. The first title, Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon, met with resounding success. He was then joined by Cocteau, Radiguet, Cendrars, Drieu la Rochelle, Jean Guehenno, Giono, Soupault, Delteil, Ramuz, Hervé Bazin and Malraux.

At the end of the 19^th century, books were generally produced in print runs of between 2000-2500. It was Bernard Grasset who first launched titles with runs of 10.000, accompanied by publicity and press relations: in other words the literary event as we know it. He would insist, « You shouldn't say - Radiguet is a genius - , rather say - He's only fifteen. »

Then came the war, and with it the charges of collaboration in 1944. Thanks to the testimony of faithful authors, the accusation was quashed - but so was the man. Nevertheless he took up direction of the House again in 1950.

In 1954, Hachette became majority owner. The House was reorganised with Bernard Privat, Grasset's nephew who was also a writer. Bernard Grasset died in 1955. The merger with Les Editions Fasquelle took place in 1967.

So different from his uncle, Bernard Privat took just ten years to surround himself with a team whose passion was the written word : there was Jean-Claude Fasquelle- the grandson of Zola's editor, and Yves Berger, François Nourissier, Françoise Mallet-Jorris, Matthieu Galey, Françoise Verny. They brought new life to the house. 1966 the first post-war Goncourt went to Oublier Palerme by Edmonde Charles-Roux. Among the authors were Butor, Mandiargues, Teilhard de Chardin, Obaldia, Jacques Laurent, Dominique Fernandez, Antonine Maillet, Kléber Haedens, Christine de Rivoyre, Béatrix Beck, Christiane Rochefort, Bernard-Henri Levy and the Nouveaux Philosophes....

Jean-Claude Fasquelle Photo: © Arnaud Baumann

Bernard Privat retired in 1981 and died in 1985. Jean-Claude Fasquelle became Chairman and Managing Director of Les Editions Grasset-Fasquelle. He was joined by established writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Umberto Eco, Hector Biancciotti, Lucien Bodard, Benoîte Groult, Paul Guimard, François Weyergans, Patrick Besson, Jean Vautrin, Yann Queffélec, Amin Maalouf, Pascal Bruckner, Jacques Chessex. But also by young upcoming talents such as Yann Moix, Christophe Donner, Christophe Bataille, Lorette Nobécourt, Virginie Despentes...

With more than 3000 titles on their list, Les Editions Grasset continue to publish about 140 books every year, including novels and essays. Pride of place goes to literary works. They account for more than half of the total output.