The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (French: Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard) was published by Calmann-Lévy in 1881. The novel won the Prix de l’Académie française and established France’s reputation as a writer of exceptional grace and intelligence.
Sylvestre Bonnard is a member of the Institut de France, an elderly scholar whose life is devoted to rare manuscripts and philological research. He lives entirely in the world of books, served by a faithful housekeeper, indifferent to practical affairs. Two events draw him into the world of human relationships: first, the memory of a woman he loved in his youth (Clémentine), and second, the discovery that Clémentine’s granddaughter, Jeanne, is being mistreated by a rapacious guardian.
Bonnard’s “crime” is to spirit Jeanne away from her legal guardian — an act of kindness that is technically illegal and entirely characteristic of France’s moral vision: the law is an instrument of injustice, and breaking it can be the highest form of virtue. The novel sets the claims of human compassion against the claims of legal order and finds, without surprise, that compassion is more worthy of respect.
The tone is what made the novel beloved: France writes with a warmth and irony that never becomes either sentimental or cynical. Bonnard is gently mocked for his unworldliness but genuinely admired for his goodness. The satire is directed not at the old scholar but at a world that makes his kind of innocence dangerous.
Collecting The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
First edition (Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1881): French text, original wrappers.
Market values:
- French first edition, fine: $80–$200
- First English translation: $30–$80