CÉLINE Louis-Ferdinand Lot n° 106

CÉLINE Louis-Ferdinand 1/35 HC ON HOLLANDE UNCENSORED WITH AUTOGRAPH DISPATCH Death on credit Paris, Denoël et Steele, 1936 Fort in-8°, paperback. In publisher's cloth folder and slipcase. Uncut. Discharge on front cover. Tail cap a little bent. Uncensored first edition. 1/35 head copies on Hollande hors commerce (n°XXVIII), after 25 Japon hors commerce. As is well known, Denoël, in order to avoid a losing lawsuit, asked Céline to remove the passages deemed obscene, which the author cleverly left blank in the redacted work, making the censorship even more obvious. Only the 117 hors commerce copies (and not all of them!), printed on 4 different types of paper, are not mutilated. Precious autograph dispatch signed by the author on the first page: "A mon [ou mons pour monsieur?] Gentil. Very friendly homage. LF Céline. Suresnes en chirurgie. En guerre 39". In all likelihood, this is Dr. Alexandre Gentil. Olivier Cariguel, in his 2014 edition of Lettres à Alexandre Gentil, published by Du Lérot, states that this man was a close friend of Céline's, but "a secret friend". The two men met at Val-de-Grâce in 1914, then at Mont-Valérien. During the interwar years, they continued to see each other. This doctor was one of the first to reply to letters from Céline (September 1945), who had just been exiled to Denmark. A most desirable copy as issued!