152 - HÉRIAT, Philippe. *Les Noces de deuil*. A play in three acts and six scenes.

HÉRIAT, Philippe. *Les Noces de deuil*. A play in three acts and six scenes. A copy belonging to André Maurois, on Labeur vellum, featuring a long, signed autograph dedication, in a full binding decorated by Granghaud. Paris, Gallimard, 1954. In-12, full red maroquin with a coarse grain, spine with four false raised bands highlighted by a gold fillet, panels framed by a black fillet with ornamentation at the top and bottom in a mosaic of pine-green maroquin, covers adorned with a geometric design composed of black fillets and gold shapes, inner border adorned with a gold fillet, guilloché edges and caps with double black fillets, gold headpiece, untrimmed, covers and spine preserved. Binding by V. Granghaud. 214 pp. First edition of this play, which premiered at the Comédie-Française on October 15, 1953. Copy on unbleached vellum (No. 3243) featuring a long autographed dedication to André Maurois. “With all my warmest regards and sincere affection, and also with fond memories of Madame Simone André-Maurois’s charming visit backstage at the Comédie-Française”... The friendship between Philippe Hériat (1898–1971) and André Maurois (1885–1967) began in the early 1930s, when Maurois publicly praised and defended *L’Innocent*, Hériat’s very first novel, which had just won the Prix Renaudot in 1931. Throughout their lives, the two writers shared a deep intellectual esteem, evidenced by a correspondence now preserved at the Institut de France. Included at the front of the volume: a business card printed in the name of Philippe Hériat and the advertisement insert for the novel. Simone André Maurois bookplate (label peeled off). In excellent condition.