It was first published in 1940 in Paris by Éditions du Sagittaire and its distribution was immediately banned by the Vichy government.

In 1966, Breton, "having resisted the temptation to add more names",[1] published the book again and called this edition "the definitive".

The anthology not only introduced some until then almost unknown or forgotten writers, it also coined the term "black humor" (as Breton said, until then the term had meant nothing, unless someone imagined jokes about black people [1]).

The choice of authors was done entirely by Breton and according to his taste which he explains in the Foreword (called The Lightning Rod, a term suggested by Lichtenberg), a work of great depth (Breton was the main theoretician of the Surrealist movement) that starts with contemplating Rimbaud´s words "Emanations, explosions."

[2] The authors, each introduced by a preface by Breton and represented by a few pages from their writings, are sorted chronologically.