Exceptional set, inscribed by Charles de Gaulle to the son of the first head of the French secret services, and one of 425 copies on pur fil paper (second paper issue).
Magnificent presentation inscription: "A Thierry Dewavrin / avec le voeu qu'il / sauve la France aussi bien / que l'a fait son père. / C. de Gaulle / 10 Novembre 1954." (To Thierry Dewavrin / with the wish that he / saves France as good as / did his father / C. de Gaulle / November 10, 1954)
Published between 1954 and 1959, the Mémoires de guerre constitute the foundational text of de Gaulle’s autobiography and one of the major monuments of 20th-century political literature. Through their scope, narrative construction and symbolic ambition, these volumes definitively establish the Gaullist interpretation of the Second World War, from the Appeal of 18 June to the Liberation, and inscribe the figure of the General within a consciously shaped historical dimension.
This copy has outstanding historical resonance through its recipient. André Dewavrin, the father of the dedicatee, known under the nom de guerre Colonel Passy (1911–1998), was the founder and first head of the Free French secret services (BCRA), created in London at de Gaulle’s initiative. A key figure of the Resistance and direct interlocutor of the Allies, Passy played a decisive role in structuring intelligence and clandestine networks throughout the war.
Minor wear to the headcaps, otherwise a superb set of the highest historical and symbolic importance, remarkable both for its provenance and its inscription.
