Les Silences du colonel Bramble

In the first months of the First World War, Maurois — who did not yet bear that name — enlisted and took up a post as liaison officer with the British army, “covering the front in every direction, in the closest contact with the British forces.” He drew on his firsthand observations to give shape to his desire to write. The atmosphere of the trenches, seen through Anglo-Saxon eyes — phlegmatic, and treating humor as a duty — inspired notes that he wrote in an already highly personal style. The young interpreter was utterly charmed by his companions in arms and portrayed himself in this chronicle under the name Aurelle. Amid the worst situations produced by battle are interwoven conversations, quasi-ethnological reflections, and charming poems in the form of correspondence. With this book Maurois achieved an immediate and resounding success: the name Bramble would remain, for generations to come, emblematic of the typical Englishman (Laffont-Bompiani).

This first edition, illustrated by Charles Martin, was followed by the other great Maurois title, Les Discours du docteur O’Grady, published by the same house and with the same illustrator in 1932. Martin illustrated some twenty books, the most successful being Sports et divertissements, with Erik Satie, and the celebrated Monseigneur le vin. He began his career around 1910 in light entertainment magazines, before contributing to the major French fashion journals (La Gazette du bon ton, Fémina…) and American ones (Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair).

A fine copy in a contemporary binding.