La Diane française

Name: La Diane française
SKU: 29197
Author: Louis Aragon

Paris, Seghers, coll. « Poésie 44 », (December 30) 1944.

1 vol. (150 x 200 mm) of 82 p., [1] and 1 f. Half cream calf with bands, smooth spine, blue paper covers, mosaic decoration on the front cover, gilt title, top edge gilt, original wrappers and spine preserved, matching edged slipcase (binding signed P.-L. Martin).

First edition.

One of 12 copies on China paper (“A”).

Ten of these poems were published clandestinely, notably in Le Musée Grévin, by Éditions de Minuit, under the pseudonym François La Colère. La Diane française also includes the poems “Il n’y a pas d’amour heureux” and “La rose et le réséda,” published as early as March 1943 in Marseille under Aragon’s own name in the newspaper Le Mot d’ordre.

Aragon’s diane — the reveille that “sang in the courtyards of barracks” — is clearly borrowed from Baudelaire’s opening line of “Crépuscule du matin.” This diane was to sound “at the evening of my country,” announcing its awakening, already perceptible in 1943. To free itself from tyranny, the nation had to unite its forces, joining the rose, symbol of the left, with the white réséda, symbol of the right.

The collection is dedicated to four figures of the Resistance shot by the Germans between 1941 and 1944: Guy Môquet, Gabriel Péri, Honoré d’Estienne d’Orves and Gilbert Dru — two Communists and two Catholics.

A precious deluxe copy — the first of them, lettered A — bound by Pierre-Lucien Martin for his own use.

#29197

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