This is the case, for example, of a book by Jean Dutourd, "L'Académie par un des 40", published by Cherche-Midi.

The 2009 edition of this brief essay was worth 2.90 euros, an exceptionally low price.

For the 2023 edition which appears on Thursday, it rose to 15 euros, more than five times.

"It is more expensive, yes: after so many years, the price of paper has exploded and we cannot maintain the original price, obviously", justifies the founder of this publishing house, Philippe Héraclès, questioned by the AFP.

The author has nothing to do with it, since he died in 2011. And the publisher explains that this work, published anonymously at the time, was enriched with a preface by another member of the French Academy, Erik Orsenna, and cartoons by Philippe Dumas.

"Each publisher does a little as they see fit. But too high a price can be penalized by the bookseller, who will say: I'm not taking this title. And in the end, above all, it's the public who arbitrates" , explains to AFP the general delegate of the Syndicate of the French bookstore, Guillaume Husson.

Paper cost

In the choice of prices by publishers, inflation in the cost of paper is currently a major concern.

"Since July 2021, the price of paper, which represents around 4% to 5% of the final price of a book, has increased by 85%," the president of the National Publishing Union, Vincent Montagne, told Le Figaro on Sunday.

According to his estimates, "at the start of 2023, prices will increase by 4% to 10%".

A stand at the Paris Book Fair on March 14, 2019 © JOEL SAGET / AFP/Archives

The variations can be much greater than that in the case of "revised" or "augmented" editions.

Example with the anthropologist and philosopher René Girard (1923-2015), whose Grasset undertook to publish all the important titles, with new prefaces.

"Achever Clausewitz", a book of interviews from 2007, was originally worth 22 euros at Carnets Nord editions.

In pocket, at Champs Flammarion in 2011, it went down to 10.20 euros, but is sold out.

It reappeared in large format in November at Grasset at 25 euros, illustrating how reasonable the rise in book prices has been in fifteen years.

Two awards, two editions

In some cases, two prices coexist, for two different editions.

"The Conversion of Art" by René Girard should reappear in March in the same way, in large format at Grasset, at 20 euros.

There, on the other hand, it will compete with a pocket edition from Champs Flammarion at 9 euros, still available from booksellers.

At Gallimard, David McNeil's memoir on his father, Marc Chagall, "A few steps in the footsteps of an angel" was reissued in November with "unknown paintings and drawings" by the artist.

The plaque at the entrance to the headquarters of Éditions Gallimard in Paris on February 12, 2020 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP/Archives

If it is worth 25 euros in the famous White Collection, its color illustrations make it a completely different object than the pocket book at Folio, at 8.10 euros.

“Readers make the difference,” says Mr. Husson.

"And there are few titles maintained in large format while they have a paperback edition. These are books of a certain importance".

This spokesperson for booksellers "is questioning a lot at the moment" his colleagues on the perception of prices by customers.

"People tend to consider a book to be always too expensive. But few readers complain about the increases, except one, from time to time, who is outraged," he reports.

© 2023 AFP