Notes d'un pilote disparu (1916-1917)
Paris: Hachette, 1918. Small octavo, [x], 224, [4] pp., contemporary gilt lettered quarter green cloth. An attractive copy. Originally published under the nom de guerre 'Lieutenant Marc' in 1918, the real author was identified in the 1970's as Jean Beraud Villars.
This book was so critical of the French military and aircraft manufacturers (who he alleged supplied inferior aircraft) that Villars could not publish it under his own name. This is the censored and redacted French first edition. The translated book with notes, complete with the missing text, was published in 1975 by the translators Stanley Pincetl and Ernest Marchand under the title Notes of a Lost Pilot. An important book with an interesting history spanning over fifty years. Item #55
Price (AUD): $750.00