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several old letters and papers are stacked on top of each otherseveral old letters and pictures of military men are on a tablea pile of old papers sitting on top of each othera group of old letters and envelopes with handwriting on themtwo old papers with writing on them sitting on top of each otherseveral old black and white photographs of men and women in uniform
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9 - Correspondence from soldiers and writers called up for milit…
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Estimate €500 - €800
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Description
Correspondence from soldiers and writers called up for military service, 1914–1918 A collection of over 105 letters from soldiers, writers at the front, and friends and relatives who had been called up, addressed to René Benjamin, including FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE Letter from the author (L.A.S.), Paris, 15 February 1917, from Alfred Cortot, renowned pianist and conductor, head of the Artistic Propaganda Department within the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts 4 letters from the author/P.A.S., Albert Willemetz, lyricist and librettist, private secretary to Georges Clemenceau, Minister of the Interior and President of the Council, including 2 letters from the author, 1915–1916, Maurice Dufrène, cabinetmaker, interior designer and writer Letter, 5 January 1917, William Sérieyx, officer on the artillery staff at Vannes, journalist and writer 3 letters, 1915–1917, Auguste Mauchey, a soldier in the 303rd Regiment 4 L.A.S./P.A.S., 1915–1917, Maurice Oscar-Roty, son of the famous medallist Louis Oscar Roty, creator of *La Semeuse*, including a letter in which he expresses concern about the ‘decadence’ of young people, neglected by the absence of their fathers who had gone to the front, and in which he is highly critical of the influence of the nascent cinema and tobacco, advocating a strict upbringing and respect for paternal authority – themes that were very much in evidence in patriotic circles in 1916 17 L.A.S./P.A.S., 1913–1915, Henry Sazerac de Forge, a man of letters and journalist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper *Fantasio* from 1906 to 1914, mobilised into the 38th Territorial Infantry Regiment in August 1914 and sent to the Lorraine front, became one of the most active contributors to the trench press, notably in *L’Echo des Marmites*; in 1915, he founded the *Ligue de la Tête de Loup*, whose mission was to combat war profiteers + photo postcard of Henry de Forge in military uniform at the front 6 letters from captivity (plus 4 letters from his wife), 1916–1918, Emile Moussat, a teacher at the lycée in Bordeaux, mobilised on 4 August 1914 as a sergeant in the 220th Infantry Regiment and sent to the front; on 24 August 1914, during the fighting at Rouvres (in the Woëvre), he was seriously wounded, picked up on the battlefield by German troops, taken prisoner, and spent the entire war in captivity in Germany, notably at the Limburg-an-der-Lahn camp; despite his injury and the conditions of his captivity, he became a moral and intellectual figure amongst his comrades, striving to maintain cultural and educational activities to boost the morale of the other prisoners; after the war, he devoted much of his literary talent to bearing witness to this experience. + 2 photo cards and a photographic portrait of Emile Moussat 15 letters from the front/postcards from the front, 1915–1917, Gaspard Colson (?–1917), a private in the 10th Battalion of Chasseurs, then in the 22nd Company of the 317th Infantry Regiment, whom he first met at Saumur Hospital in 1914, a Parisian ‘poilu’ who inspired the main character in the Goncourt Prize-winning novel *Gaspard* 2 group photo cards of soldiers from the 10th Battalion of Chasseurs, 28 January and 23 June 1915, with handwritten messages from Colson Etc... FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE
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About the sale René Benjamin, the 20th-century Balzac scholar
Auction location
Auction time 10/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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