Gascogne, Gers and Pays basque: old books and postcards

The region in a few words

Historic Gascony stretches from the Garonne to the Pyrenees. Its heart is the Gers: Auch and its cathedral, Lectoure, Condom, Mirande, Lombez, the bastides and castelnaux, and the Armagnac vineyards. The region gave France Henri IV, born in Pau in Béarn, and d'Artagnan, Dumas’s musketeer, born near Lupiac. The Basque Country, with Bayonne, Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, has its own language, games and traditions, described as early as the 19th century by travellers and fictionalised by Pierre Loti in Ramuntcho. The Pyrenees drew scholars and Pyrenean enthusiasts, from Ramond de Carbonnières to Count Russell, and spa-town visitors. Toulouse, the regional capital, produced a wealth of historical and scholarly literature.

What you will find here

Our stock includes several dozen books and postcards on these regions: histories of Gascony and Béarn, monographs of Auch, Lectoure, Condom or Mirande, studies of Armagnac and Gascon customs, works on the Basque language and traditions, travel accounts in the Pyrenees, old spa-town guides, books on Toulouse, Bayonne and Pau, bulletins of local learned societies, and a collection of old postcards, especially from the Gers. The grid above lists titles that include the name of one of these places.

Identifying a fine copy

Local monographs were usually printed in small numbers, often by a town printer: their rarity stems more from this than from age. Check for folding maps, plans and plates, and the binding’s condition, which is often fragile. For postcards, value depends on the scene (lively street, shop, festival, station, event), the local publisher, print clarity and corner condition; a written and postmarked card is not devalued, it dates the view. Old guides are prized for their maps and original advertisements.

Buying and conservation tips

A regional collector often focuses on a single town or canton: the grid, sorted from newest to oldest, helps track new arrivals. Postcards should be stored in neutral envelopes, away from light; paperbacks in a folder, flat if thin. Our records note the printer, the year on the title-page, plates and any defects; for postcards, they specify if the card is written and give the publisher. We photograph the backs on request.

To go further

The Travels and Regions section brings together all the provinces of France; the Bordeaux and Aquitaine page covers the rest of the South-West. The Antique Postcards section features our entire collection of postcards. The Pierre Loti page presents the author of Ramuntcho, while the Alexandre Dumas page features the novelist behind d’Artagnan. Other regional pages: Brittany, Normandy, Lyon, Marseille and Provence, Paris.