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a piece of old paper with writing on it
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Estimate €700 - €800
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MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. ‘Your Jean’, [Buenos Aires, 17 October 1928], to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 4 pages, small quarto. It has been a long time since he last wrote to them, but he had told his mother about his ‘adventures whilst travelling in Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. […] Time is passing with disconcerting speed. Did you have a lovely summer? Here, we’ve had a very harsh winter. A day of snow – a rare occurrence – but the rain, oh! it just won’t stop, especially in Brazil. Appalling weather such as I’ve never seen in Europe! The aviation work is very hard. For my part, I’m well used to it now. I’m bound to set another record for flying hours this year, as I just can’t stop. Between my flying assignments, I’m criss-crossing the whole of South America on raids and exploratory flights. That doesn’t stop me from weighing 87 kilograms. And then, if I don’t go to France before February, I’ll take a well-earned fortnight’s rest in December, just to be on the safe side, as I’ve never put as much effort into aviation as I have this year. This will certainly be the pride of my career; I’ll admit it without modesty for once. Everyone here knows it and tells me so, even my comrades – a rare thing in a milieu as full of show-offs as ours. I’m beginning to believe that I’ve actually achieved something, whilst finding it quite natural! What would I do then in aviation? At present, we carry out regular mail flights in nine and a half days – four days by aeroplane to cover the 10,000 km. of overland travel and five and a half days by boat to cover the 3,500 km of the sea leg, which we will fortunately be able to reduce to 2,400 km with the forthcoming operation of our seaplanes, bringing the total journey time down to seven and a half days. What an effort and what organisation this has cost us, especially in a country like Brazil, which is partly pro-German and which opposes us with every ounce of resistance it can muster. Our correspondence is growing slowly but surely. People here are beginning to realise what we are doing. But it is not without its difficulties’... Correspondence, No. 152. 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 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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