Raymond Queneau. Cent mille milliards de poèmes, original French and first English version

(1) Raymond Queneau. Cent mille milliards de poèmes. Paris, Gallimard NRF, 1961. Hardcover, cloth binding, 28.7 x 24 cm. Contains instructions for use by Queneau, an afterword by François le Lionnais, and 10 sheets of sonnet lines cut into strips. By turning the strips the reader can compose multiple combinations of poems, one hundred thousand billion in all. First edition of this remarkable book object which marked the beginning of the Oulipo group in 1961, the French literary movement that combined mathematics and probability to explore new literary possibilities. First edition, second printing November 1961, limited to 2200, this copy numbered H.C.1. Cover with soiling, small abrasion to spine, interior fine.

(2) Raymond Queneau. One Hundred Million Million Poems. English translation by John Crombie. Paris, Kickshaws Press, 1983. Original wrappers in Japanese butterfly binding, 25 x 22 cm. Each page cut into strips between each line to enable different combinations of poems. First English edition, one of 500 copies. Light toning to cover, else near mint. (total 2)