Douglas Alden provides scholars of Proust a practical means of access to the Grasset Proofs, which include Du côté de chez Swann, A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs and Le Côte de Guermantes. Alden guides the reader in approaching Proust's only work available in its pre-publication form by dividing his book into two sections. His "Commentary" offers an analysis of the changes Proust made to his work, and his "Variants" shows the 1913 and 1914 proofs in discourse with the Pléiade edition.