KESSEL (Joseph). - Lot 150

KESSEL (Joseph). Vent de sable. Paris: Édition de la Nouvelle Revue Française, 1929. — In-8, 221 x 135: frontispiece, 201 pp., (2 ff.), illustrated cover. Lemon-colored half-box binding, three gilt fillets and two vertical blind-stamped fillets on the covers, smooth spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Jacqueline Delbée). First edition printed on October 4, 1929. This is a travelogue inspired by the flight Kessel undertook with Émile Lécrivain, an aviation pioneer, along the Toulouse–Casablanca–Dakar route, which officially opened on June 1, 1925. Through the stopovers—Casablanca and its nightclubs, Agadir and its red-light district, Fort Juby and its military prison, Villa Cisneros and its Spanish garrison—the author delves into the world of the Aéropostale pilots. He paints a portrait of legendary figures such as Mermoz and Saint-Exupéry, and celebrates their courage, their simplicity, and their dedication in a world where boarding a plane was still considered a touch of madness. This edition is illustrated with a frontispiece engraved by Geneviève GALLIBERT (1889–1986), a painter, illustrator, and watercolorist who was a student of Dufy. Married to Louis Hirschauer, one of the pioneers of aviation, she became familiar with aeronautics and launched the “Landscapes Seen from an Airplane” series. In 1936, she was appointed Official Painter of the Ministry of Aviation. One of 1,000 copies on Arches paper (no. 220), featuring an autograph inscription by the author on the second blank page, addressed to Mr. Robert Dupuy. A fine copy, bound at the time by Jacqueline Delbée. Some wear on the spine. Also included, by the same author: - *Vent de sable. Aventures*. Paris: Les Éditions de France, [November 9], 1929. — In-8, 200 x 133: (2 ff.), 231 pp., (2 ff.), printed cover. Paperback. Second edition published a few weeks after the original. — One of 35 copies on Holland paper (no. 40), the second-highest-grade paper after 10 copies on Imperial Japanese paper. Autographed by the author on the half-title page. Slight soiling on the cover, small tears along the edges of the boards. Spine slightly warped.