ALGERIAN

[ Élisabeth de Mac Mahon, wife of the French president Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Male. de Mac Mahon'), in English, to the artist and women's activist Barbara Bodichon, regarding meetings in Algeria.

Author: 
Élisabeth de Mac Mahon [ née Castries ] (1834-1900), La Maréchale de Mac Mahon [ MacMahon ], Duchesse de Magenta, wife of French President Patrice de Mac Mahon (1808-1879) [ Barbara Bodichon ]
Publication details: 
One dated 'Alger the 16th March' and the other 'Alger Sunday' [ Algiers. Between 1864 and 1870? ]
£180.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Accompanied by an envelope, with broken red wax seal, addressed by the Maréchale to 'Madame Bodichon | Mustapha Supérieur | Chemin de la Colonne Voirol | à El Biar'. (In 1857 Bodichon had married the French physician, ethnographer, and scholar Eugène Bodichon (1810-1885), and thereafter divided her time between Algeria and England.) General MacMahon was Governor General of Algeria between 1864 and 1870. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 'Alger Sunday'.

Small archive of official documents, newspaper cuttings, photographs and manuscript material relating to his war experiences.

Author: 
Gerard Guttman [ Algeria; Les Prestataires; Foreign Labour Company; British Expeditionary Force; Pioneer Corps; the Holocaust ]
Publication details: 
1940-83.
£300.00

An extremely interesting and moving if frail survival: items of various sizes, many discoloured, creased, frayed and stained. The first item, 'THE HISTORY OF THE PRESTATAIRES IN ALGERIA. | Dedicated by one of them to the Major, recruiter of Pioneers for the 337 Alien Coy. in Hussein Dey.' (two typewritten A4 leaves, both backed with grey card), dated 'Kenadza, 28 February 1943', explains how 'Before June 1940 there were more than 3,000 of us who did our duty in the fight against the onslaught of the Axis.

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