Collection: Joseph Kessel

Joseph Kessel was born in 1898 in Villa Clara, Argentina, to a Jewish family of Russian origin. He spent part of his childhood in Russia before his family settled in France. He volunteered as an aviator during World War I, an experience from which he drew his first success, L'Équipage (1923), which introduced aviation into literature. The novel already established his style: action experienced first, then writing, inherited from his profession as a reporter.

For Kessel was above all a great reporter. He travelled the world for the press, from the underworlds of Berlin to the Red Sea, and brought back from his travels the material for his books. Belle de jour(1928) caused a scandal; Fortune carrée (1932) was born from a journey to the Red Sea. His writing, nurtured by Conrad and Jack London, sought out exceptional men and extreme situations.

World War II turned him into a combatant. A war correspondent, then a resistor who joined the Free French Forces, he composed in London in 1943, with his nephew Maurice Druon, the lyrics of the Chant des partisans, which became the anthem of the Resistance. The same year, he published L'Armée des ombres, a tribute to the shadow fighters.

After the war, he resumed his travels: Africa, Afghanistan, from which he drew Le Lion(1958), his greatest success, andLes Cavaliers (1967), considered his masterpiece. He joined the Académie française in 1963 and died in 1979. Adventure novel, war narrative, major reportage, biography: Kessel's work, rich with some eighty volumes, is united by a shared quest for fraternity and courage. A direct prose, rhythmic by reporting, which places fact before atmosphere and man before thesis.

Original editions and dedications by Joseph Kessel are in the catalog of the KOEGUI bookstore in Bayonne.

• Which are Kessel's most sought-after original editions?
  L'Équipage (1923), Belle de jour (1928) and L'Armée des ombres (1943) are the most in demand. Copies on large paper with signed autograph dedications achieve the highest estimates.
• How to identify the original edition of L'Armée des ombres?
  The original edition was published in 1943 in Algiers by Charlot. The title page and the colophon distinguish it from Parisian reprints post-Liberation.
• How to get an original Kessel edition appraised?
  Send a photograph of the title page, any dedication, and the binding. As members of SLAM, we provide free appraisals.

Also discover: the original editions of Romain Gary, aviator and novelist like Kessel, and of Paul Morandand Blaise Cendrars, other great witnesses of the interwar period. Browse all our original editions of the 20th century or our 20th century literature.