Description

FIRST EDITIONS 4 volumes from the Chronicle of the Pasquiers.
Hardback copies of the Press Office, each with a AUTOGRAPH SIGNED LETTER TO PIERRE DRIEU LA ROCHELLE.

Duhamel and Drieu la Rochelle, veterans of the Great War, both occupied a prominent place in the literary milieu between the wars: Drieu, who had already published his Feu Folletin May 1934, was awarded the Renaissance prize for short stories, while Duhamel, thanks in particular to the success of the Chronicle of the PasquiersDrieu was admitted to the Académie Française in 1935. During the Occupation, however, their positions diverged: while Duhamel confronted the Petainist faction of the Académie, Drieu firmly supported the regime. Jean Cassou (A life for Freedom), reports :

Georges Duhamel told me that he met this same Drieu during the Occupation and said to him: "Drieu... Do you know, Drieu, what you're doing at the moment?" The other man made a vague, slightly apologetic gesture: "Yes, yes... obviously... But you understand, I am now too committed... I can't back out now..."

Drieu, for his part, admitted that he approved of the Vichy decision to ban Duhamel's work: "Just because you're a great writer doesn't mean you can pretend to escape the consequences of the political opinions you express."he explains to Léautaud (Literary Journal6 December 1940). The very qualifier of "great writer" needs to be qualified, since he confided, again to Léautaud, that he had "never been a great writer".no taste for Duhamel's literature."(19 June 1941)

The Garden of Wild Beasts
Paris: Mercure de France, 1934
315 pp. - [1] f. - 1] f. [catalogue

Uncut.

To Drieu la Rochelle,
who can say whatever he wants,
who doesn't want everything he can
Faithful memory
Duhamel
December 33

Small tears in the margins of the cover, cover soiled, spine soiled.

View of the Promised Land
Paris: Mercure de France, 1934
119 x 187 mm, 315 pp. - [1] f. - 1] f. [catalogue]

To Drieu la Rochelle
cheerfully
Duhamel
October 34

Crease, tear and small loss to spine. Cover soiled, spine soiled.

Midsummer Night
Paris: Mercure de France, 1935
119 x 187 mm, 290 pp. - [1] f. - 1] f. [catalogue]

To Drieu la Rochelle
master writer
in faithful memory
Duhamel
October 35

Spine creased.

The Bièvres Desert
Paris: Mercure de France, 1937
119 x 187 mm, 324 pp. - [1] f. - 1] f. [catalogue]

Uncut.

To Drieu la Rochelle
Friendly and faithful thoughts
Duhamel, February 37

Crease to cover, spine unstained