SAINT-EXUPÉRY, Antoine de.

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Terre des Hommes. First edition, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "Pour le baron et la baronne Amaury de la Grange, En très amical souvenir et en respectueux hommage, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry". His fellow leading aviator Baron de la Grange, president of the Aéro-Club de France, accompanied the author aboard the SS Île de France in January 1938.As they sailed together, Saint-Exupéry's Caudron Simoun aircraft was stowed away in the ship's hold in preparation for his planned record-breaking flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost point of South America. Doubting his chances, the author confided to a friend who urged him to cancel the flight and return to Europe, "Je vais avoir un accident grave, mais je m'en sortirai". He took off on 14 February 1938 and stopped at Guatemala City airport the next day to refuel, but too much fuel was provided. The overburdened aircraft crashed shortly after leaving the runway, leaving Saint-Exupéry in a coma for five days. During his recovery, he worked with his American publishers to bring out the English translation of Terre des Hommes, which appeared as Wind, Sand and Stars (1939).De la Grange (1888-1953) was a flight lieutenant in the First World War who received a Croix de Guerre and an American Distinguished Service Medal. During the Second World War, he became a senator, vice-president of the air commission, and, as a personal friend of President Roosevelt, head of a convoy to America. He was also president of

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