{"product_id":"president-de-gaulle-to-lord-portal-chief-of-the-air-staff-signed-war-memoirs","title":"President de Gaulle’s Signed War Memoirs from Lord Portal’s Collection","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"110\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDE GAULLE, Charles. \u003cem data-start=\"20\" data-end=\"69\"\u003eMémoires de Guerre: L’Appel, L’Unité, Le Salut.\u003c\/em\u003e Paris: Librairie Plon, 1954, 1956, 1959.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"112\" data-end=\"957\"\u003eA magnificent high-command provenance set, joining two of the central figures of Allied wartime leadership. These were not books passing through ordinary literary channels, but de Gaulle’s own account of France’s fall, resistance, liberation and restoration, preserved in the personal collection of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Portal of Hungerford, Britain’s wartime Chief of the Air Staff and one of the principal architects of Allied air power. Portal stood at the summit of British strategy, close to Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, while de Gaulle, from London exile to national saviour, became the embodiment of Free France. Their connection belongs to the highest level of the war: London, Free France, Allied command, D-Day, liberation, and the complex but essential partnership between Britain and de Gaulle’s France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"959\" data-end=\"1397\"\u003eFirst editions, first impressions in the original French, three volumes in the publisher’s printed wrappers, all issued on alfa Cellunaf paper, the special reserved issue produced not for the ordinary trade but for those with a direct claim upon the history de Gaulle was recording. The limitation states that copies on alfa Cellunaf were reserved for former members of Free France and for members of the fighting and Resistance associations of the 1939-1945 war - in other words, for veterans and participants of the very struggle described in these memoirs. This gives the set a rare internal significance: it was a commemorative issue intended for the wartime community of Free France and the Resistance, not simply a deluxe bibliophile printing. The first volume alone is numbered, as issued: No. 6598. The third volume, Le Salut: 1944-1946, is signed by Charles de Gaulle in blue ink and dated 7-11-59, French format for 7 November 1959.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1399\" data-end=\"1810\"\u003eThe date is highly resonant. De Gaulle signed the 1944-1946 volume on 7 November 1959, in the year he became President of the Fifth Republic, and only days before Armistice Day. The gesture therefore carries both personal and national meaning: the wartime leader, now head of France, signing the culminating volume of his definitive memoirs, covering liberation, victory and the re-founding of French authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1812\" data-end=\"2209\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"\u003eA complete unrestored set in the fragile original wrappers. Spines and covers show toning, spotting, rubbing, light creasing, small edge wear and minor splits, but the volumes retain their authentic period character. Internally clean and bright, with the signed title especially strong and attractive. A superb Anglo-French wartime provenance set of exceptional cultural and historical importance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE GAULLE, Charles","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53110248997131,"sku":null,"price":7000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0794\/7848\/9355\/files\/20260512_071200695_iOS.jpg?v=1778577786","url":"https:\/\/www.archbooks.co.uk\/products\/president-de-gaulle-to-lord-portal-chief-of-the-air-staff-signed-war-memoirs","provider":"Arch Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}