Skira|Genève [Geneva] 1948|23 x 29.50 cm|reliure de l'éditeur
€1,800
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⬨ 76640
First edition, no deluxe copies printed. Richly illustrated. Slight sunning to spine. With a precious signed autograph inscription from André Malraux to his friend, the prominent Gaullist resistance fighter Brigitte Friang: “Pour Brigitte. A. Malraux. Oct 1948.”accompanied by an original coloured drawing depicting the famous "dyable" walking in profile, sketched in red and blue pencil (used for the eye and bristling hair) Brigitte Friang joined the Resistance at the age of 19 and quickly became a key operative in charge of coordinating parachute drops in the western region. She was arrested by the Gestapo after attempting to help her friend Pierre Brossolette escape from Rennes prison. She later confessed: “I knew all the landing and drop zones, I knew the real names of many agents because I had transmitted them in code to London for registration.” Seriously wounded, she was deported to Ravensbrück, then to the Sudeten commando camps. She managed to escape from the transport heading to Dachau by hiding in straw. In 1946, she co-founded the Rassemblement du Peuple Français in support of De Gaulle’s return to power after his resignation, and became part of the small circle of close associates—alongside André Malraux—who drafted the foundational Strasbourg speech in 1947. Following the dissolution of the R.P.F., she turned to frontline journalism, covering the wars in Indochina, Suez, the Six-Day War, and Vietnam, and later became André Malraux’s press officer. This marked the beginning of a long friendship with Malraux, who spoke of their closeness in Antimémoires, referring affectionately to “his Brigitte.” In return, Brigitte Friang would recount their thirty-year friendship in two works, Un autre Malraux and Petit tour autour de Malraux, both offering a poignant yet candid portrait of the writer and statesman.