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a letter from the president of the united states to his wife
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Estimate €500 - €700
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Description
MERMOZ Jean L.A.S. ‘Jean’, [Dakar 1934?], to his ‘Beloved Mum’; 2 pages, in-4, on tissue paper, via the Aéropostale. He is due to leave for Natal tonight. ‘I arrived in Dakar later than I’d expected. One of my engines completely broke down during the night, a thousand kilometres from Dakar. I still managed to get there fairly smoothly with the remaining three. I’m leaving this evening on the Santos-Dumont, as my own plane needs an engine replaced. I plan to return on the 31st and carry on with the mail service as far as Marseille, where I’ll spend two or three days waiting for Foa, who’s due to arrive on Thursday to set off for Saigon. From there I’ll head back up to Paris to take his place, and I’ll come and see you on Saturday or Sunday at Rocquigny. I plan to stay in France for about a fortnight. Life in Dakar is no fun. I much prefer Natal. It’s impossible to get organised there: it’s worse than ever, a life in a small sub-prefecture with a dreadful climate. Fortunately, I’m leaving tonight… and anyway, despite everything, I have the peace of mind that I so desperately need.” His wife Gilberte is off on a winter sports holiday: “Naturally, she’s suffering terribly, and the worst thing is that there’s nothing more I can do to ease her pain. I feel so much calmer now, so much more at peace: I truly suffer only from her own suffering, just as one suffers from a child’s pain: how sad it all is! I’d far rather suffer myself than see her suffer, and yet I feel so hardened at times that this feeling causes me unbearable pain. […] Why is life like this? I could have been so happy with an Yvonne, a Janine, and now it’s all over, finished, with a failed private life and this agonising sense that all the youth and freshness we once had within us have vanished forever”… Another handwritten letter is enclosed. ‘Jean’, Dakar, 25 May 1934, to his mother: ‘Just a few words to let you know that I’m thinking of you, that everything is fine and that I plan to leave for Natal on Monday’… (1 p. in-4 on Air France letterhead). Provenance: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Passed down through the family
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About the sale Historical Memories
Auction location
Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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