Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut), written by Antoine François Prévost and first published in 1731, is best known in its operatic adaptations by Massanet and Puccini, but at the time it was a daring experimental novel. Controversial in its time, the work was banned in France upon publication. Despite this, it became very popular and pirated editions were widely distributed.

The story, set in France and Louisiana in the early eighteenth century, follows the hero, the Chevalier des Grieux, and his lover, Manon Lescaut. Seventeen-year-old Des Grieux, studying philosophy at Amiens, comes from a noble and landed family, but forfeits his hereditary wealth and incurs the disappointment of his father by running away with Manon while she is on her way to a convent. In Paris the young lovers enjoy a blissful cohabitation, while Des Grieux struggles to satisfy Manon's taste for luxury. He acquires money by borrowing from his unwaveringly loyal friend Tiberge and by cheating gamblers, but he cannot make enough, prompting Manon to leave him for a richer man because she cannot stand the thought of living in penury.

The lovers finally end up in New Orleans, where Manon has been deported as a prostitute. They pretend to be married and live in idyllic peace, but when Des Grieux reveals their unmarried state to the Governor, Étienne Perier, and asks to be married to Manon, Perier’s nephew Synnelet sets his sights on winning Manon’s hand. In despair, Des Grieux challenges Synnelet to a duel and knocks him unconscious. Thinking he has killed the man and fearing retribution, the couple flee New Orleans and venture into the wilderness of Louisiana, hoping to reach an English settlement. Manon dies of exposure and exhaustion the following morning and, after burying his beloved, Des Grieux is eventually taken back to France by Tiberge.

By the late 1920s the Paris publishing house Javal et Bourdeaux, with its prestigious offices in the Avenue Victor-Hugo, could afford to commission the best illustrators and printers, in this case Adolphe Valcke, to produce its beautiful collectors’ editions. Lelong rose to the occasion, producing this powerful series of paintings to illustrate the young lovers’ tragic story.

The Javal et Bourdeaux Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut was published in a numbered limited edition of 490 copies.