Military album about the French suppression of the Malagasy Uprising, 1947-49

MADAGASCAR 1947–1949. With multicolour illustrated title page and 282 b/w photographic illustrations with captions. Paris: Éditions Pouzet (Artra), s. a. [ca. 1950].

Oblong-4vo. Screen printing (title page), halftone and offset on glossy paper, bound in original artist's morocco in black and brown over cardboards with two reliefs on the front cover and inlays of snake skin.

Commemorative album on the occasion of the suppression of the Malagasy Uprising (1947-49) by French colonial forces, here in a superb artist binding.

Contents: The photographies, all of them shot from French military prospective, show some villages, landscapes and natural sights, but moreover French troops (26 units of Infantry, Artillery, parachutists, Air Force, Marines and Pioneers in total) in glorified action. The majority of those units consisted of indigenous Africans, like the »Spahis« and »Tirailleurs« (Algerian, Madagascan, Moroccan, Senegalese, Tunesian). Also present, of course, the notorious French Foreign Legion. The photographies also show scenes of surrender of whole villages and some single prisoners of war, or wounded and fallen. They don't show atrocities however, also committed in large number by French forces (Travis).

Provenance: Pre-title page recto with an owner's dedication: „Souvenir du Madagascar, J. Millet, 1949“.

Condition: Edges and corners of binding occasionally slightly bumped and worn, otherwise in very good condition.

Reference: Hannibal Travis: Genocide, Ethnonationalism, and the United Nations: Exploring the Causes of Mass Killing Since 1945. London and New York: 2003, p. 138.