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Description
KESSEL (Joseph).
Vent de sable.
Paris: Édition de la Nouvelle Revue Française, 1929. — In-8, 221 x 135: frontispiece, 201 pp., (2 ff.), illustrated cover. Lemon-coloured half-box binding, three gilt lines and two vertical blind-stamped lines on the covers, plain spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Jacqueline Delbée).
First edition printed on 4 October 1929.
This is a travelogue inspired by the aerial journey Kessel undertook with Émile Lécrivain, an aviation pioneer, along the Toulouse–Casablanca–Dakar route, which was officially opened on 1 June 1925. Through the stopovers – Casablanca and its nightclubs, Agadir and its red-light district, Fort Juby and its military prison, Villa Cisneros and its Spanish garrison – the author delves into the world of the Aéropostale pilots. He paints a portrait of legendary figures such as Mermoz and Saint-Exupéry, and celebrates their courage, their simplicity and their dedication in a world where boarding a aeroplane was still considered a touch of madness.
This edition is illustrated with a frontispiece engraved by Geneviève GALLIBERT (1889–1986), a painter, illustrator and watercolourist, and a pupil of Dufy. Married to Louis Hirschauer, one of the pioneers of aviation, she became familiar with aeronautics and launched the ‘Paysages vus d’avion’ series. In 1936, she was appointed Official Painter to the Ministry of the Air.
One of 1,000 copies on Arches paper (no. 220), featuring a signed autograph dedication by the author on the second blank page, addressed to Mr Robert Dupuy.
A fine copy, bound in the period by Jacqueline Delbée.
Some wear to the spine.
Also included, by the same author:
- *Vent de sable*. Adventures. Paris: Les Éditions de France, [9 November] 1929. — In-8, 200 x 133: (2 ff.), 231 pp., (2 ff.), printed cover. Paperback.
Second edition published a few weeks after the original. — One of 35 copies printed on Holland paper (no. 40), the second highest-grade paper after the 10 copies printed on Imperial Japanese paper.
Autograph dedication signed by the author on the half-title page.
Slight soiling to the cover, small tears along the edges of the boards. Spine slightly warped.
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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