Description

FIRST EDITION. One of 20 copies on Hollande van Gelder after 17 on Japon. This was followed by 50 pur fil and 350 Alfa.

FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE BATTLESHIP RICHELIEU provenance "Cuirassé Richelieu" at the foot of the spine, handwritten note on the 1st white endpaper "Carré off[iciers] subalt[ernes] / Richelieu / 1046".
SIGNED AUTOGRAPH CONSIGNMENT for the library of the battleship Richelieu :

For the officers' wardroom of the "Cuirassé Richelieu", a heartfelt tribute from a man of the land to those of the sea.
Pesquidioux
april-may 1940

The Richelieu, with its sister-ship the Jean Bart, was both the first 35,000-tonne battleship and the last French battleship. Built in 1935 to stand up to the Italian Littorio, she was originally designed only to operate in the Mediterranean - but on 14 June 1940, when the Richelieu was only 90% complete, the Germans bombarded the port of Brest. On 18 June, the battleship, still intact but still unfinished, left for Dakar. There, she was torpedoed and immobilised by the British. Under Vichy orders, she repelled Operation Menace in September, orchestrated by the British Royal Navy and Free France.
In 1943, under Allied control, the Richelieu sailed for New York to be repaired and modernised; passing under the Brooklyn Bridge forced the crew to dismantle the forward telepointer. The refitted Richelieu was designated to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. She took part in Operations Cockpit, Transom and Crimson. Her crew then fought against Japan alongside the East Indies Fleet, and were present at the Japanese surrender of Singapore on 12 September 1945. Finally, between October and December 1945, the Richelieu took part in the return of French forces to Indochina.
It was decommissioned in 1961 and scrapped 7 years later.