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a table with a bunch of old postcards on itmany pictures of old buildings and buildings on the table
Balsan Encheres

809 - EPINEUIL-LE-FLEURIEL / CHER, the home of ALAIN FOURNIER ( * …
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Estimate €30
Sale commission
Description
EPINEUIL-LE-FLEURIEL / CHER, the home of ALAIN FOURNIER ( * ) and *Le Grand Meaulnes*. 37 vintage, semi-modern and modern postcards of this small village of 436 inhabitants, where Alain Fournier spent his youth and where his parents were schoolteachers, plus 4 commemorative philatelic items featuring the ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ issued in 1986 and cancelled on the first day of issue. INCLUDED with this set: AN INVITATION to the temporary exhibition organised at the Bourges Library, ‘Le Grand Meaulnes and its Prosperity’, as part of the centenary of the banning of Alain Fournier’s book, plus a long biographical article published in *Télérama* on 25 March 1920. ( * ) Henri Alban FOURNIER, pen name Alain Fournier: born on 3 October 1886 in La Chapelle d’Anguillon, Cher; killed in action on 22 September 1914 at St Rémy la Calonne, Meuse. A writer, his most famous work is *Le Grand Meaulnes*, his only completed novel. His father was a primary school teacher, as was his mother. He spent most of his childhood in Epineuil-le-Fleuriel, where he was taught by his father for seven years. At the age of 12, he left for Paris to attend the Lycée Voltaire, where he won almost every prize. *Le Grand Meaulnes* was published in 1913 and proved a success. A reserve lieutenant, he was called up on 2 August 1914 and joined his regiment, the 288th Infantry.He went to the front and took part in several deadly battles around Verdun. On 22 September 1914, during an operation, he was killed by Prussian machine-gun fire. The news of Lieutenant Fournier’s death, reported in the press, made a deep impression on his contemporaries. In June 1920, he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm and the Legion of Honour. The exact location of his grave remained unknown until 2 May 1991, when his body and those of his 20 comrades were found in the woods of St Rémy, buried in a mass grave by the German army at the site of the fighting. The legend of a writer who ‘died for France’ in the prime of his youth helped to secure Alain Fournier’s literary fame. His name appears on the walls of the Panthéon in the list of writers who died in the line of duty during the First World War.
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About the sale SALE OF COINS, BANKNOTES, MEDALS, CIVILIAN AND MILITARY HEADGEAR, INSIGNIA AND DECORATIONS – lots 300 to 598 Followed by OLD PAPERS, PHOTOGRAPHS, POSTCARDS, DOCUMENTS AND MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS – Lots 599 to 862
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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