[TOUNENS (Antoine)].

Lot 18
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1200 - 1500 EUR
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Result : 4 480EUR
[TOUNENS (Antoine)].
ORLLIE-ANTOINE I, KING OF ARAUCANIA AND PATAGONIA. His accession to the throne and his captivity in Chile. Relation written by himself. Paris, Thévelin, 1863, in-8, modern cherry Bradel cloth, spine decorated with gilt fillets, first cover preserved. Faux-title, IV pp, 174 pp, one copper-engraved portrait-frontispiece. Sabin 57 629. Rare first edition. This is one of the many factums with which a small lawyer from Périgueux, Antoine Tounein, known as Tounens (1825-1878) supported his claims to the imaginary throne of Araucania, self-proclaimed by him in 1860 and which had a short-lived existence (and still contested by Argentina and Chile) until 1862. The adventure did not end there: after the end of the "kingdom" in 1862, Antoine de Tounens returned to France. Although the kingdom no longer existed, he created a small court around him, awarding decorations and titles. Settled in Tourtoirac, he died there in 1878. Having no children, he left his dynastic inheritance as well as his titles to one of his closest dignitaries, Achille Laviarde, after his nephew, Adrien-Jean de Tounens had renounced his rights to his uncle's succession. The title of pretender to the throne of Araucania and Patagonia has continued to be passed down to the present day; the current pretender is Frederic Luz, a French heraldist. All this is at the origin of a famous novel by Jean Raspail, published in 1981 and entitled Moi, Antoine de Tounens, roi de Patagonie (published by Albin Michel). Autograph of the unfortunate sovereign to the examining magistrate Desmortiers, dated June 2, 1864, perhaps Louis-Déterville Desmortiers (1799-1870), examining magistrate since 1840, resident in Paris and future hero of the defense of Saintonge against the invaders.
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