Premium Artcurial
50
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MERMOZ Jean
See original version (French)
50
-
MERMOZ Jean
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,500 - €2,000
Voluntary lot
Description
MERMOZ Jean
5 letters ‘Petit Jean’ (one ‘Jean’), Paris 1917–1918, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 12 pages, in-8 (edges frayed on the 4th page).
In Paris, under the threat of German bombardments.
6 October 1917, he recounts his enrolment at the Lycée Voltaire: ‘We are fed as well as could be expected […] I simply had to return to the school to eat leg of lamb, sausage and custard. […] Following the end-of-year exams, I moved up to a new class that the Headmaster has just created, called Seconde Arts et Métiers. […] We have seven hours of mathematics and nine hours of practical work. I’m really enjoying it all.” He is settled in well with his mother on Rue de la Boétie…
1918. – 18 February: a visit to Les Invalides: ‘The Emperor’s tomb is completely walled up with sandbags to protect it from the Gothas. The July Column is also being walled up.’ Account of an air-raid alert: ‘Last night I saw the red beacons on the aeroplanes’; we take refuge in the metro… – 8 April: he recounts his return from Aurillac to Paris, a cycle ride from the Cité to Montparnasse…
– 14 April: “We’re used to everything that’s going on now. Paris is quite dead now, though spring is bringing nature to life, except for the Parisians. It’s not really that bad, I assure you: a bomb now and then breaks the silence of the streets”… – 20 May, a nostalgic recollection of Whitsun in Mainbressy. ‘The guns have been thundering all day and are still thundering; but it’s not on our side; the sound is muffled […] Bertha is waking up’… He passed his English essay and gives the topic of his French essay. His bicycle is being repaired…
Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936);
- Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955);
- Then passed down through the family
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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