Signed ; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry / Bernard Lamotte - Flight To Arras [i.e. Pilote de guerre] - 1942

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Flight To Arras [i.e. Pilote de guerre]. Illustrated by Bernard Lamotte and translated by Lewis Galantière. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1942. Hardcover, no slipcase. Limited Editon. 8vo. 255 pp. Illustrated endpapers. Top edge gilt. Illustrated with 13 lithographs by Bernard Lamotte. Quarter blue leather over cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt.

A rare, historically significant signed limited first edition of Flight to Arras by legendary French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This deluxe volume was released simultaneously with the standard trade edition in a strict, limited print run of only 500 copies. This specific book is number 87. It is hand-signed on the limitation page by both Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the book's illustrator Bernard Lamotte. Because Saint-Exupéry disappeared in action just two years later in 1944, his authentic signature is exceptionally rare and highly sought after by collectors worldwide.

This copy features an extraordinary layer of mid-century American corporate history. It bears the official property ink stamps and library card pocket of The Fred G. Gurley Collection / Santa Fe Library, located at 80 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago 4.

Fred G. Gurley was a giant of the American railroad industry, serving as the President and Chairman of the famous Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway during the 1940s and 1950s. This book was housed in the executive corporate archive inside Chicago's iconic Railway Exchange Building. This distinct provenance acts as an unassailable, secondary layer of authentication, documenting the book's placement in a prestigious corporate library shortly after its 1942 publication.

Condition: Ex-library. The beige cloth sides are clean. However, the premium blue leather spine shows some wear, flaking, loss of gold leaf gilding, and material chipping/tears along the raised bands. The limitation page, signatures, and internal text block remain clean, bright, and firmly attached. The library checkout pocket remains glued to the front endpaper, and a property stamp is present on the lower portion of a text page.

This is a premier opportunity to own a verified, double-digit signed copy of Saint-Exupéry’s wartime masterpiece with a rich tie to American industrial history.