72 - CHAMSON, André. Cévonole Series: Roux the Bandit—Men of the Road—The Crime of the Righteous.

CHAMSON, André. Cévonole Series: Roux the Bandit—Men of the Road—The Crime of the Righteous. A copy belonging to André Maurois, featuring one of his manuscripts and an autographed dedication by André Chamson. Paris, Mercure de France, 1948. Large 8vo, fawn half-maroquin with corners, spine with 4 false raised bands highlighted with gold fillets and adorned at the top and bottom with a large embossed flower, gilt head, covers and spine preserved. 409 pp. Some scuffing on the binding, mainly on the spine. A collected edition bringing together the three novels from the seminal literary cycle by André Chamson (1900–1983), rooted in the culture, history, and landscapes of the Cévennes. A copy from André Maurois’s library, featuring his beautiful bookplate and enriched with a double autographed dedication, originally addressed to the Academician and then to his son, Gérard Maurois. It includes an autograph manuscript signed by André Maurois entitled “Introduction to André Chamson” (one and a half pages, quarto size, on lined paper with a few cross-outs and corrections—a small tear at the fold). This essay analyzes the structure of *La Suite Cévenole* and praises Chamson as “as much a novelist as a poet and a moralist.” It also contains a touching autographed postcard signed by Chamson and addressed to the Academician (1 page, in-12 format, on the back of a postcard depicting Fort Saint-André in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, May 24, 1956). He warmly thanks André Maurois for his decisive support in his election to the Académie Française: “Thanks to you, the bells of my homeland ring in my honor, and I am, in these days of May, the happiest of the sons of Provence and Languedoc.” Also included are two cards related to this election: the invitation card bearing André Maurois’s name for the reception under the Dome (May 23, 1957) and the committee’s invitation card for the official presentation of his academician’s sword at the Petit Palais. This well-bound copy boasts excellent provenance.