Les temps sauvages

First edition, one of 56 strictly non-commercial, personalised numbered copies on Saint-Amand laid paper, the only deluxe issue alongside 32 copies on Holland paper.
A fine copy.

Our copy was specially printed for Eddy Marnay and bears this signed autograph inscription by Joseph Kessel beneath the limitation statement and his name: "... ou le zombie son ami Jef."

Born Edmond Bacri, he was a French lyricist and singer who wrote approximately 4,000 songs, including Les Amants de Paris for Edith Piaf,

The recipient, Eddy Marnay, born Edmond Bacri, was one of France's greatest lyricists, author of approximately 4,000 songs. Having arrived in Paris in 1937 and worked in both journalism and cinema, he wrote Les Amants de Paris for Édith Piaf as early as 1948, to music by Léo Ferré. His career led him to collaborate with many of the greatest performers of his time, including Yves Montand, Juliette Gréco, Michel Legrand, Nana Mouskouri, Mireille Mathieu, Marie Laforêt, Bourvil and Claude François, and to write a number of songs that became enduring classics: La Ballade irlandaise, La Valse des lilas, Les Moulins de mon cœur, Un jour, un enfant and Le mal aimé. 

The friendship linking these two major figures of literature and song remains little documented. The familiarity of the inscription and the personalised copy nevertheless attest to a genuine closeness, undoubtedly fostered by Germaine Sablon, Kessel's companion and the celebrated interpreter of the Chant des Partisans.