Despite of Gargantua being published after Pantagruel (1532), Gargantua, the famous giant of Rabelaisian lore, was Pantagruel's “father”; this digital edition of the earliest Gargantua is based on the single copy preserved in the collection of the National Library of France (RES_Y2_2126).

It represents the novel in its earliest known state, most surely from the beginning of 1535 although often dated late 1534. This unicum was probably published in Lyon by François Juste, as was the second edition dated from 1535 (see BnF RES_ Y2_2130). The original title page was replaced by the simple mention “Gargantua” (no place nor time is given), and the last page (blank) and eighth leaf (A8) are also missing. These two pages present in this digital edition are based on the copy from 1535 BnF RES_Y2_2130. This copy, along with the 1542 copy preserved in Châteauroux, was used to correct the ensemble of the text. This princeps edition was lately the object of two critical editions by: R. Calder and M. A. Screech (Geneva, Droz, 1970) in original spelling, and by N. Cazauran and M.-C Thomine (Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1996), in modern spelling.

Marie-Luce Demonet, July 2015.