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a group of old letters and papers with handwriting on them
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MERMOZ Jean 8 letters ‘Jean’ (one ‘Mermoz’), January–February 1925, to his ‘dear Mum’; 10 pages in-4 and 11 pages in-8, 3 letterheads from the Nueva Pensión Frascati, and one from the Grands Cafés in Toulouse. On the Spanish lines, from Barcelona to Casablanca. Barcelona. 16 January. ‘Here I am in Barcelona for good, at least until the Dakar route is established. Even so, I might stay here for a year, and I’ll be happy about that because you could come and see me this summer. I’m staying in a boarding house with one of my mates. There are only three of us pilots; which means I’ll be doing two legs every three days, but no longer in France – towards Alicante and Málaga. As for pay, no less than 3,000 a month, between 3,000 and 3,500. Things are starting to get interesting’… – 24 January: “I’m back from Málaga and I’ve got a day off. […] Things are still going really well; I’m quite happy in Barcelona, which is a very pretty city. […] I’m flying a lot, which isn’t to my displeasure; well, I hope things keep going just as well. […] Don’t worry yourself, Mum. First of all, nothing will happen to me because I’m always very careful and I’m keen to have a long career in aviation”… Toulouse, 26 January. “I’m returning from Casablanca today after a ferry flight. The very day I arrived, I was sent off to Casa. […] The Director told me that, as the pilot who had flown the greatest number of kilometres in France that year (120,000 km in 800 hours of flight time), I had been nominated for the Aero-Club’s gold medal. He then offered me the post of chief pilot at the Dakar airport; I turned it down, saying that as long as I was able to do my job, I’d prefer that to any honorary position, and simply asked him to let me go there as a pilot, which he promised. In the meantime, I’m heading to Barcelona this evening for a month or two’… Barcelona, 30 January: ‘Don’t worry, I’m almost all right and in a few days I’ll see a doctor. Barcelona is a little Paris and there are thirty thousand French people here. So you can see I’m not too out of my depth here. I’m staying in an excellent guesthouse where the food is excellent; I get eight hundred francs a month in allowance. It’s quite expensive, but for Spain it’s hardly so, as we pay in pesetas […] At the moment, I’m doing four stages at a time and resting for three or four days, which means it’s not too tiring. Complete independence. We never turn up at the training ground, which is 20 km from the city. As long as we’re ready to set off when we need to, that’s all that’s asked of us. I earn about 3,000, sometimes more, so I reckon I’ll be able to put 1,000 to 1,500 francs aside each month”… – 4 February. “ We’ve got a lot of work at the moment […] It’s going to get even worse; a mate’s going on leave in a few days and there’ll only be three of us to cover the shift.” He hasn’t fully recovered yet (from his gonorrhoea); he’s been advised to have electrotherapy… – 11 February. He returns from Málaga and thanks his mother for sending him shirts, the collars of which he has the maid adjust; he mentions his suits. – 18 February. ‘I haven’t a moment’s rest. I came back from Málaga this evening tired enough to think of only one thing: eating and going to bed. A comrade has gone on leave and our whole unit is in disarray because we have to carry on as if he were still here; so I’m out and about every day and am, so to speak, hardly ever in Barcelona. Anyway, it’s all right; it’s good, hard work despite everything, and it pays off. […] If only we had good weather! But everything’s going haywire – storm after storm – and when you’re up in the air for as long as seven hours, tossed about like a blade of grass, I can assure you we sleep soundly at night’... – 23 February. There are only two of us left to cover the rota, ‘which means we go back to Barcelona only to set off again sometimes an hour later to spend the whole day up there. Actually, I’m not too worried […] it would be hard for me to put on weight at the moment with all this constant overwork, but I’m eating like four people and it won’t last forever. […] I’ve got some excellent mates here and, you see, I don’t have time to get too bored, even without any distractions’… Correspondence, nos. 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41. Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family
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About the sale Historical Memories
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Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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