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a group of old letters sitting next to each other on top of a table
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Estimate 4 000 € - 5 000 €
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MERMOZ Jean 6 letters ‘Jean’ (2 ‘Mermoz’), October–December 1924, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 20 pages, in-8 or in-4 format (the fifth page in red ink bearing the letterhead of the Café Restaurant Jacinto Marti) His early days at Latécoère. 15 October. ‘Here I am in Toulouse. I’ve been made to feel very welcome, but I intend to stay here for at least a month. The Company is taking out insurance for me […] and I have to wait for the insurance authorisation to come back before I can fly. […] Then I’ll be doing a training course (there are five of us new pilots) at the engine and aircraft assembly workshops for a few days; followed by the Toulouse–Casablanca–Toulouse flight to familiarise myself with the route; after that flight, I’ll be posted to a route segment in Casablanca or Spain. […] I think the future looks quite promising. I’ve got the determination, and that’s a lot”… – [26 October]. “I’m continuing my training in the workshops. It’s very interesting. I know the engine piece by piece, and there are loads of things about its construction that I didn’t know. The factory employs 800 to 900 workers. We produce one fully equipped military aircraft a day, two civilian aircraft and fifteen to twenty engines. […] I’ve completed eight test flights”… 1 November. “As the mail plane had broken down in Perpignan, I went to fetch it with another aircraft. We’re required to be at the airfield every day, unless excused. […] I test aircraft every day; I’m now very well regarded and highly rated. I always arrive on time […] I’ll probably stay with the Company permanently. It’s certainly the one with the brightest future at the moment”… – 24 November: “I’ve started my routes between Toulouse, Perpignan and Barcelona, so I’m starting to get a bit busier. I had superb weather throughout the entire journey to and from Casablanca. I visited, in turn, Barcelona, Alicante, Málaga and Gibraltar, where I had the unexpected pleasure of witnessing a sunrise over the Strait, rising above a sea of clouds the likes of which I have never seen, not even in Syria. I stopped successively at Tangier, Larache, Rabat and finally Casablanca, which is a superb and very French city. […] Now, the work is going to start getting tougher; five hours’ flying in often unusual weather conditions. Fog is our greatest enemy in the air and it occurs almost daily; on top of that, we have the sirocco winds, which are very troublesome during landing”… Barcelona, 16 December. “I arrived in Barcelona this morning; the veterans of this leg have taken leave, so at the moment I’m in the air two days out of three, averaging five hours each day; just recently, I even flew for eight hours in a single day. Having set off from Toulouse at half past six, I arrived in Alicante at half past one; I can assure you I slept soundly on arrival. The weather is very poor, with a great deal of mist in particular, which sometimes forces us to fly for an hour or two just above the ground. It rains often; we’ve had snow, and the winds aren’t great in Perpignan. Still, it’s simply a matter of getting used to it and practising. That’s just part of the job, and I’m far from complaining, because it feels so good when you face difficulties and manage to overcome them”… – 31 December. “Here is a year drawing to a close. Another is beginning, and that is the eternal law of our lives. My heart has not changed. […] I’d also like you to be pleased with me. I may not always have given you the satisfaction you expected of me; I know that. But perhaps a higher power was guiding me towards aspirations quite different from your own. […] I hope… and I want the day to come when I can finally prove to you that, with determination, perseverance and, if need be, a little self-sacrifice, I have been able to forge my own path and become a man in the true sense of the word’…. Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Passed down through the family
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About the sale Historical Memories
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Auction time 03/11/2026 à 11h00
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