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an old letter from a man who is writing on a piece of paper
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Estimate €800 - €1,000
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Description
MERMOZ Jean L.A.S. ‘Jean’, La Rochelle, 5 November 1927, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 2 pages, in-4, on letterhead from the Café Français, La Rochelle. Before setting off for Brazil. He led a hectic life: ‘First, the rapid and secret preparations for my flight, the daily night-time flights, and then the departure, ten days in St Louis, the return, receptions here and there, the presentation of the aircraft at all the major aviation centres, the sudden announcement of my almost immediate departure for Argentina, which didn’t even give me time to come and kiss you goodbye before leaving. […] I was due to board in Bordeaux on the 3rd, but the ship didn’t stop there; so I had to make my way to La Rochelle to catch the next liner, on which I am due to leave France tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock. I’m taking with me the same aeroplane in which I flew 4,200 km non-stop. On arrival, I intend to attempt the non-stop flight from Natal to Buenos Aires. Mum must have told you that if I stopped at St Louis, it was down to bad luck – a broken propeller. Had it not been for that, I would have crossed the Atlantic before Costes. It was too good to be true! Anyway, I’m not losing heart, because I’m hoping to achieve something next year, provided the devil doesn’t interfere. Latécoère gave me a 10,000-fr bonus on top of my monthly pay. That’s a purely material satisfaction! Anyway, none of that matters. I would have loved so much to go and kiss you, to hold you both in my arms once more. […] Tomorrow, my thoughts will be very close to you whilst I drift away just a tiny bit further, oh! so little; distances no longer exist now! I am taking yet another step towards the Future; I am pursuing with determination, without hesitation or fear, the upward path that must lead me to the goal I wish to reach, towards the light of a destiny I hope will be brilliant. When I look back and see the path I have travelled, oh! it does not dazzle me, no! but I am content and I have confidence’…. Correspondence, no. 127. Provenance: - 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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