PRESIDENT'S OWN HAND

Deschanel, Paul Eugène Louis (1855–1922)

Gambetta [with an Autograph Letter Signed by Paul Deschanel]

London: William Heinemann, 1920. THE FRENCH PRESIDENT WRITES OF GAMBETTA — WITH AN ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY DESCHANEL
A particularly interesting copy of Deschanel's biography of Léon Gambetta, enhanced by an original autograph letter signed by Deschanel and mounted at the front of the volume. 

An original six-line autograph letter in French, signed Paul Deschanel, addressed to a member of the Chamber of Deputies. Deschanel asks his colleague to send him, if possible, a gallery ticket for the following Monday, closing with thanks and cordial regards. Mounted to the front free endpaper.

A PRESIDENT WRITES OF A REPUBLICAN FOUNDER.
Paul Deschanel, then President of the French Republic, presents the life and political career of Léon Gambetta, one of the central figures in the establishment of France's Third Republic. Deschanel follows Gambetta through the Franco-Prussian War, the Government of National Defence, the National Assembly, and the formative years of the parliamentary republic.

The work first appeared in French in 1919; this William Heinemann edition brought Deschanel's study to English readers in 1920. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: FROM ONE STATESMAN TO ANOTHER.
+++ Publisher's pale blue cloth, front board decorated in blind with fleur-de-lis and central cartouche; gilt spine titles and fleur-de-lis device.
+++ Octavo, approximately 8.5 inches; vii, [2], 3–335 pages, including bibliography and index. Portrait frontispiece of Léon Gambetta with facsimile signature beneath.
+++ Several pieces of earlier collector and bookseller documentation have been mounted to the preliminary leaves, including an owner's catalogue description and dealer catalogue excerpts.

CONDITION: Very Good-minus. Binding remains sound with light shelf wear and rubbing, particularly at the spine ends and corners. Small pink/red stain to the upper portion of the front board. Spine gilt remains legible. Foxing and toning to the endpapers and preliminaries, particularly the title page and adjoining leaves; text-block edges foxed. Interior otherwise generally clean and sound. Lacking the dust jacket.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: TWO GENERATIONS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
The association of author and subject gives the book unusual historical resonance. Léon Gambetta became a defining political figure during France's defeat in 1870 and the emergence of the Third Republic. Decades later, Deschanel served repeatedly as President of the Chamber of Deputies before becoming President of France in 1920.

GAMBETTA REMEMBERED BY DESCHANEL.
Deschanel wrote in his foreword that he composed the work during his duties in the Chamber and deliberately approached Gambetta not merely as a heroic figure but as a political subject to be judged historically. The original French edition appeared in 1919, immediately after another transformative European war.

GENRES: Political Biography, French History, Autograph Letters, European History, Political History, First Editions

SUBJECTS: Paul Deschanel, Léon Gambetta, Third French Republic, France, Franco-Prussian War, French Politics, Chamber of Deputies, Government of National Defence, Autograph Letters, French Presidents, Nineteenth-Century France

Item #22561

Price: $125.00