Le Livre de la Pitié et de la Mort

Le Livre de la Pitié et de la Mort gathers eleven texts in which several of the great themes of Loti’s work recur almost obsessively: loss, memory, loved ones, animals, childhood, and the desperate attempt to hold on to what time carries away. Loti himself says as much in his foreword: “This book is even more myself than all those I have written until now (…) and answers the need to struggle against death.”

Maurice de Lacoste was born in Metz in 1864 and entered the naval academy in 1882. A first-class midshipman from October 1885, he was first posted to the Far East naval division. It was during these early voyages that he met Pierre Loti, who had been sailing those seas since the same year aboard the Mytho, one of the eleven official transport ships of the French naval forces in the Far East. It was on board this ship, during a month-long crossing, that Loti wrote part of the manuscript of Pêcheur d’Islande.

Émile de Lacoste was promoted to ensign in October 1887, serving aboard numerous vessels of the French Navy. Promoted to lieutenant in October 1893, he was successively assigned to several battleships and then cruisers, the spearheads and most powerful warships of the period. He was later assigned to the central directorate of naval artillery, then became a frigate captain before joining the naval staff in 1909.

Loti presented him with each of his books, all inscribed with affectionate and faithful dedications.

A good copy.