Expanding the collections of the Musée Clément Ader et des Grands Hommes is one of the concerns of the director, Christophe Marquez, who monitors the auctions daily. His keen eye spotted last September a public sale in Vannes of around 250 works that belonged to Vincent Auriol, former President of the French Republic from 1947 to 1954 and mayor of Muret (1925-1940, 1945-1947). If Vincent Auriol passionately loved reading, it was the book object that he loved above all, so much so that he had two particularly extensive libraries: one in Bormes-les-Mimosas in his residence “Le Patio” and another, located on the first floor of his house on the banks of the Louge, which has become the Clément Ader and Great Men museum. When he died, all the works were brought together at the Château de Paclais in Normandy, a property belonging to his daughter-in-law, the aviator Jacqueline Auriol. Thanks to specific funds allocated by Mayor André Mandement and the municipality of Muret, the museum was able to acquire 70 carefully selected books.
Fishing and reading
“We have chosen,” explains the museum director, “books which testify to Vincent Auriol’s taste for French history such as the Sainte-Hélène memorial, books linked to the museum collection and in particular the caricatures of Jean Sennep, of course the prizes that President Auriol had received during his schooling at Revel, the diplomatic gifts such as this bible offered by the Italian government… One regret however”, he adds, “we were not able to buy a book by André Malraux on the painter Goya who had been given to him by the Spanish republican government in exile in 1957”. Each book features an ex-libris, a drawing in black ink, representing a fisherman on the banks of the Louge, a book placed on the bank, accompanied by this Latin quote “nulla dies sine linea”, literally “not a day without a line “. In a simple drawing, Vincent Auriol’s two passions are represented, fishing and reading, surrounded by a touch of humor. After a precise inventory of these books, they will find their place in their original library, shaped by the talented Toulouse cabinetmaker André Ferrié. The history of Muret continues to be written, under the gaze of the mayor-president, whose bust will soon be installed in the museum garden. Sculpted by Gérard Lartigue, it was the subject of an inauguration last month by the former President of the Republic, François Hollande.
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