Tulipe

First edition, one of 800 numbered copies on vélin alfa, only deluxe issue after 220 copies on vélin blanc du Marais.
Slightly sunned spine with a small lack of paper at foot of spine.
A pleasant copy housed in a folder and case designed and dated by Elbel Libro. Red box spine, black cardboard boards, lined with suede, black cardboard slipcase.
Rare inscribed copy by Romain Gary to Lionel Marson, the B.B.C. newsreader who first announced to the world the beginning of the Second World War after Germany had invaded Poland.
Romain Gary probably met British serviceman turned actor and radio presenter Lionel Marson after his aerial exploit he recalled in Promise at Dawn. On January 25, 1944, during a "slightly more eventful than usual mission", Gary had been wounded by a German bullet and his pilot Arnaud Langer was blinded; Gary guided the latter by voice, directed him, successfully bombed a  V1 launch pad in the North of France and brought the plane back to base. After his feat of arms and a few days' convalescence, he was interviewed by the BBC, where the inscription recipient Lionel Marson worked at the time.