Copies printed on satin paper (first printing).
Manuscript ownership inscription of Maurice Genevoix in each volume.
Founded in June 1919, the Association des Écrivains Combattants (AEC), bringing together nearly 80 authors including Henry Malherbe (its first president), José Germain, Thierry Sandre, Roland Dorgelès and Maurice Genevoix, set itself the mission of keeping alive the memory of writers who had fallen at the front. This monumental anthology, published in five volumes between 1924 and 1926, remains an essential landmark of that memorial undertaking.
The fruit of seven years of research, the work records the literary and military service of 562 writers who died for France: 470 killed in combat, 21 who died after the armistice, 40 of illness while serving, 13 Belgian writers and 18 foreigners (including 13 Americans who had enlisted in the French ranks). On October 15, 1927, their names were engraved on four large marble plaques installed in the Panthéon, unveiled by President Gaston Doumergue. Among them are Alain-Fournier, Péguy, Pergaud, Ségalen and Apollinaire, but also hundreds of forgotten authors, to whom this compendium does justice.
Volume I (1924, preface by Henry Malherbe): A–D
Volume II (1924, preface by José Germain): E–J
Volume III (1925, preface by Roland Dorgelès): K–P
Volume IV (1925–1926, preface by Claude Farrère): Q–T
Volume V (1926, preface by Pierre Benoît): U–Z and general index
In 1949, 197 writers who died in the Second World War were added to the Panthéon, and a second anthology was published under the aegis of the AEC.
A fine copy, with a significant provenance.