Remarkable archive of approximately 50 individual items, including original tracts, journal issues, bulletins, and typed transcriptions made in London of clandestine French documents, related to the French Resistance during World War II. Various sizes and formats. Handling wear, some toning and foxing, light chipping and edgewear, overall very good. Various places of publication, circa 1940-1944.

The resistance in France during World War II involved a collection of groups that fought against the Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime in France. Small, often rural, groups of men and women conducted guerrilla warfare, published underground newspapers, attacked power grids and transportation facilities, provided intelligence information, and helped with escape networks for Allied soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. Members of the Resistance included academics, students, aristocrats, liberals, anarchists, communists, fascists, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, with an estimated one to three percent of the total population aligning with the Resistance. They played a huge role in helping the advancement of Allied forces through France after the invasion of Normandy, and formed the French Forces of the Interior (FFI), which counted around 400,000 members by October 1944.

This remarkable collection of journals, bulletins, documents, and original tracts provides an invaluable insight into the role and breadth of the French Resistance movement. Some of the items in this archive were published normally, some were distributed clandestinely, and many are not found in any libraries outside of France.

The collection includes:
- L'Action des Metallos, special number, undated [Autumn 1940], double-sided mimeographed sheet directed toward the activism of Parisian metalworkers.

- Combat, Organe du mouvement de libération française, "Supplément local pour Lyon" No. 1 (décembre 1942), double-sided sheet, addressed to the people of Lyon.

- Le Courrier de l'Air, "Apporté par vos amis de la R.A.F., Distribué par les patriotes français", No. 12 (1942), 4 pp., small booklet, illustrated from photographs.

- France d'Abord, Organe d'information, de liasion et de combat des detachments de Francs-Tireurs et Partisans qui forment sur le sol de la patrie, l'avant-garde de la France combattante, unnumbered, double-sided mimeographed sheet, issued by the FTP, containing FTP communiqués nos. 38 and 39 from September 1943.

- L'Humanité, Organe central du Parti Communiste Français, 8 total issues, nos. 74, 86, 90, 91, 240, 252, 258, and 261, the first four dating from 2 septembre 1940 through 8 décembre 1940, the latter four dating from 15 août 1943 through 1 décembre 1943, double-sided sheets, the first few mimeographed, (with duplicate of first issue).

- Liberation, Organe du Mouvement Libération Nationale, No. 53 (1 août 1944), double-sided sheet.

- La Marseillaise, Hebdomadaire du Mouvement de Libération Nationale, Région Sud-Est, No. 6 (juillet 1944), double-sided sheet.

- Resistance: Le Nouveau Journal de Paris, 2me Année, No. 15 (17 juillet 1943), 4 pp.

- Le Reveil des Commerçants et des Artisans, Orange des commerçants et artisans du Parti communiste français, No. 3 (novembre-décembre 1943), double-sided sheet.

- Tandis que j'agonise, Bulletin politique et littéraire de la R.N.N./Résistance Française, three double-sided mimeographed issues: No. 4 (septembre 1943), No. 5 (octobre 1943), and supplement No. 12bis (undated, circa early 1944).

- La Vie du Parti, unnumbered issue from Septembre 1943, twelve mimeographed pages.

- La Vie Ouvriere, six total issues, unnumbered, dated 21 septembre 1940 ("Edition Parisienne"), 31 octobre 1940, 1 avril 1943, 7 juin 1943, 7 août 1943, and 1 septembre 1943, each a single double-sided sheet, the two 1940 issues and the August 1943 issue mimeographed.

- La Voix de la Liberation, Organe Régional des Comités de Libération, Région du Sud-Est, unnumbered issue dated 14 juillet 1944, single double-sided sheet.

- La Voix du Mineur, Organe des Syndicats des Mineurs du Nord et Anzine et du Pas-de-Calais, unnumbered issue dated Décembre 1943, single double-sided sheet (2 copies).

- 9 printed tracts, some undated, the rest dating from 1942 to 1944, regarding the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Valmy on September 20, 1942; the deportation of French workers to Germany; a letter from the 27 Communist deputies, written in Algiers August 18, 1943; a missive from the merchants and artisans of the PCF; a communiqué from the FTPF; a memo from the PCF in support of the Soviet Union and Stalin; and a tract from the Front National imploring all Frenchmen to fight.

- 4 mimeographed tracts from 1942 through 1944, including an address from the Belgian, Danish, Dutch, French and Polish Central Transport Workers' Organization addressed to the merchant marines; a memo from the PCF regarding the unequal distribution of rations; a 5-pp. note from the PCF approving the dissolution of the Internationale Communiste; and a memo from the Milices Patriotiques, Conseil Départemental de la Seine, addressed to the local officials and commanders of the Milices Patriotiques, regarding the French Forces of the Interior (FFI).

The last grouping in this wonderful collection is a set of 8 documents and reports from the bureau of les Forces Françaises Libres of London, dated 1943, representing retranscriptions made in London of clandestine French documents, mostly regarding the activities of the PCF. Two of the documents have the stamp of the Commissariat National à l'intériour et au travail. The documents total 46 typed or mimeographed pages.

An illuminating collection of historical importance.

Book ID: 53616

Price: $25,000.00