Description
LOTI (Pierre).
The Novel of a Spahi.
Brussels: Éditions du Nord, 1930. — In-8, 205 x 150: (2 blank leaves), 266 pp., (3 blank leaves), 1 plate, illustrated cover. Paperback, padded cover.
A deluxe edition of this famous novel by Pierre Loti, first published in 1881.
This is the first work published under the pseudonym Pierre Loti, which brought him fame. It tells the story of Jean Peyral, a young man from the Cévennes who has been posted to Senegal as a spahi. Seduced by Fatou-Gaye, a young Black woman who becomes attached to him, he forgets his origins, his fiancée and even his mother. He dies bravely during an expedition against the local people, and Fatou-Gaye, in despair, kills their child before taking her own life so as not to outlive him.
The edition is illustrated with 71 colour plates by the Belgian painter Jules-Marie GANNEEL (1881–1953), including two on the cover, one as a frontispiece, one on the title page, 56 within the text, 10 full-page plates and one outside the text.
Printed in a run of 1,160 copies. One of the 36 special copies on Imperial Japan paper, this one being one of the 35 numbered from 2 to 36, enhanced with two sets of illustrations: in colour on Holland paper and in black on China paper (no. 25).
A very well-preserved copy.
Also included:
- LOTI (Pierre). *L’Histoire du Spahi*. Paris: Champion, 1925. — In-8, loose-leaf, slipcase.
This first edition, published by Samuel Viaud (son of Pierre Loti), features a facsimile reproduction of the author’s autograph manuscript. Produced using phototype by Daniel Jacomet for Éditions Édouard Champion, it contains an extract from Loti’s diary recounting his stay in Dakar and Saint-Louis between 1873 and 1874.
Tears on the spine of the cover, with no pages missing.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time
10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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