PSICHARI (Ernest). - Lot 185

PSICHARI (Ernest). The Centurion’s Journey. Paris: Louis Conard, 1916. — In-16, 191 x 127: portrait, (2 ff.), XXX pp., (1 f.), 247 pp., illustrated cover. Black Jansenist morocco, ribbed spine, double gilt fillet on the inside, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Devauchelle). A rare, posthumous first edition of the second book by Ernest Psichari (1883–1914), a lieutenant and writer, featuring a portrait of the author as a frontispiece and a preface by Paul Bourget. This novel, through the account of a journey to Mauritania, depicts the author’s spiritual evolution. “*Le Voyage du Centurion* tells of the awakening of the believer within this soldier, and how the religion of duty leads this fervent advocate of discipline to all forms of discipline ” (p. XI). Psichari defends a bold vision in it: “The novelist claims the right to combine the Gospel and the sword, by virtue of a text that proves that there can be—that there must be—a Christian doctrine of war ” (p. V). One of 70 numbered copies on Holland paper (no. 53). A very fine copy bound by Laurenchet. Provenance: Georges Degryse, with bookplate.