La Promesse de l’aube
Signed presentation inscription: “Hommage de Romain Gary, Beyrouth, 1964.”
On the same leaf, the owner of the copy inscribed his name and the date of acquisition, four years before having it signed by Gary: “Guy Abela. Beyrouth, le 10 septembre 1960.”
Guy Abela, a Lebanese poet writing in French, notably published Caravanes in 1983 and Oud in 1985. A lover of literature, archaeology and the fine arts, he owned an important library in Beirut.
The 1964 Beirut signature gives this copy particular significance: Romain Gary was indeed in Lebanon at the time with his wife Jean Seberg, who had come to film several scenes of Échappement libre, directed by Jean Becker, with Jean-Paul Belmondo. For Gary, the stay amounted to a return: he had known Lebanon in 1940, when he served as an aviator in the Free French Forces. The couple spent the first week of April in Beirut, then in Chtoura, in the Bekaa Valley.
Numerous instances of foxing to the endpapers and covers, and some wear to the binding.
Original publisher’s wraparound band mounted at front on the first endpaper.
A good copy nonetheless, copies with an inscription by Gary on this text being particularly rare.