La Mort de Philaé
Signed presentation inscription: “à Maurice de Lacoste, qui fut le plus irrévérencieux de mes subalternes, bien amicalement toujours, Pierre Loti.”
Mounted at front: an envelope sent by registered mail from Rochefort-sur-mer, addressed to “Monsieur M. de Lacoste, / 12 quai des Brotteaux / Lyon / 77.”
An interesting association copy: inscribed to the author’s junior at the École Navale and friend, Maurice de Lacoste. Born in Metz in 1864, Lacoste entered the naval academy in 1882, fifteen years after Loti. Promoted to first-class midshipman in October 1885, he was first posted to the Far East naval division. It was during these early crossings that he met Pierre Loti, who had been sailing those seas since the same year aboard the Mytho, one of eleven official transport ships of the naval forces in the Far East. Promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau in October 1893, he was successively assigned to several battleships and then cruisers, the spearheads of the Navy and the most powerful warships of the period. He was later assigned to the central directorate of naval artillery, then promoted to capitaine de frégate before joining the staff in 1909.