Gascogne Derennes (Charles) The Pilgrim of Gascony + manuscript + letters

Description

DERENNES (Charles)
Le Pèlerin de Gascogne.

Paris, L'Édition Française Illustrée, 1918. In-8°, half-morocco binding with corners, gilt top edge, hinges cracked, wear to headbands, interior fresh, in slipcase (private collector’s copy), original wrappers preserved, wide margins, XII-316 pp. First edition. Limited to 15 copies on Holland paper, of which the first seven were not issued for sale; this is copy no. 7.

4 manuscript leaves entirely in the author’s hand from April 1914 (manuscript of the preface to this book) & 2 manuscript letters from the author to his friend Marcel, to whom he offers these 4 manuscript leaves...

Charles Derennes, born 4 August 1882 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot and died 27 April 1930 in Paris, was a French writer.
Son of Gustave Derennes (1858–1889), agrégé in history, later inspector of academies and a Breton writer, born in Charente and originally from Mayenne, and Marthe Cassan, daughter of a baker and grain merchant from the Villeneuvois region, he spent his childhood in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. In 1892, he entered the lycée at Talence, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, where he completed his secondary education; there he met the Dacquois poet Émile Despax (1881–1915) and Marcel Gounouilhou (1882–1939), future director of the daily newspaper La Petite Gironde, with whom he remained close. Having passed his baccalaureate in 1899, destined for a teaching career by family tradition, he went to Paris to prepare for the entrance examination to the École normale supérieure at the Lycée Henri-IV and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, from which he was expelled. He attended courses at the Sorbonne, obtained a degree in literature in 1903, and frequented literary salons such as that of Anna de Noailles and the poetic evenings of the review La Plume at the Caveau du Soleil d’Or.
In 1907, he was awarded the Archon-Despérouses Prize.
On 11 May 1909, he married Rosita Finaly, one of the daughters of banker Hugo Finaly, founder of the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, an unhappy union that ended in divorce on 19 January 1911. During the Great War, he served as a military nurse in the Southwest (Marmande, Lévignac-de-Guyenne and Toulouse). On 23 March 1916, he married for the second time in Paris his companion Christiane (Jeanne Petit for civil records). Exempted from military service in 1917, he temporarily settled in the Landes region. Deeply attached to his native Southwest, which features prominently in his work, he was a regular visitor to Gascony from childhood, and as early as 1905 he belonged to the group of writers (including Rosny jeune, Paul Margueritte and Maxime Leroy) who, at the beginning of the 20th century, brought Hossegor to prominence, where he stayed regularly until the early 1920s.
On 10 December 1924, he was awarded the Femina Prize for Émile et les autres, the third volume in the Bestiaire sentimental series. Appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 4 January 1925, he died on 27 April 1930 and was buried in Villeneuve-sur-Lot.
A poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist and critic, Charles Derennes began his literary career at an early age, but fame and success came gradually. He published more than fifty books over some twenty-five years and contributed to numerous newspapers and reviews (L’Auto, La Baïonnette, Bonsoir, Burdigala, Le Divan, Le Double Bouquet, Les Écrits nouveaux, L’Ermitage, J’ai vu..., Le Journal, Les Maîtres de la Plume, Le Matin, Le Mercure de France, La Muse française, La Petite Gironde, La Plume, La Renaissance latine, La Revue bleue, La Revue de France, La Revue de Paris, La Revue hebdomadaire, La Vie française, La Vie parisienne...). He enjoyed considerable public success, especially after the war, winning several prizes including the Femina in 1924, and was consistently well received by critics.

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