RARE!! "Coco Chanel's Attorney" René de Chambrun Hand Signed Book Dated 1978

Description: Up for auction a VERY RARE! "Coco Chanel's Attorney" René de Chambrun Signed "Les Prisons Des La Fayette" Book. ES-7301 René Aldebert Pineton de Chambrun (23 August 1906 – 19 May 2002), was a French-American aristocrat, lawyer, businessman and author. He practised law at the Court of Appeals of Paris and the New York State Bar Association. He was the author of several books about World War II and his father-in-law, Vichy France Prime Minister Pierre Laval, to whom he served as legal counsel. He defended Coco Chanel in her lawsuit against Pierre Wertheimer over her marketing rights to Chanel No. 5. He was the chairman of Baccarat, the crystal manufacturer, from 1960 to 1992. René de Chambrun was born on August 23, 1906 in Paris, France.[3] His father, Aldebert de Chambrun, was a general in the French Army, and his mother was Clara Eleanor Longworth, sister of Nicholas Longworth, (who married Alice Roosevelt, daughter of the U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt).[4] On his paternal side, he was a member of the aristocratic Pineton de Chambrun family. Moreover, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was one of his paternal uncles. Chambrun's godfather was Philippe Pétain. Chambrun was a great-great-grandson of Lafayette. As a result, he was both a French and U.S. citizen. His honorary U.S. citizenship was questioned by members of the United States House of Representatives in 1942 due to his support for his father-in-law. Chambrun graduated from Sciences Po. He received a PhD in Law from the University of Paris. Chambrun was a lawyer at the Court of Appeals of Paris and the New York State Bar Association. By 1935, he helped establish a Franco-American cultural center in New York City to promote bilateral relations. The center was aimed at students and businessmen. When the Second World War broke out, Chambrun served as a captain, but, with the collapse of France looming by mid-May 1940, the Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, sent Chambrun as a special emissary to Washington to stiffen President Roosevelt's resolve to help the Allies. Between his first meeting with Roosevelt on 16 June and his last on 1 August, Reynaud's government had fallen. Later that year Chambrun published the book I Saw France Fall, which helped to alert American opinion about the fate of his country. Chambrun married Josée Laval (1911–1992), the only daughter of Pierre Laval in 1935. Their wedding was held at the town hall of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, followed by the Sainte-Clotilde the next day. They resided 6 bis, Place du Palais-Bourbon in the 7th arrondissement. In 1956, he bought the Château de la Grange-Bléneau, a castle in the commune of Courpalay in the Seine-et-Marne département of France, from his cousin, Louis de Lasteyrie, a descendant of La Fayette, in 1935, with a life tenancy. Upon Louis de Lasteyrie's death in 1955, Chambrun discovered the large cache of documents in the attic of the castle, and he founded a private museum about Lafayette. News of his discovery brought many historians to his door, but Chambrun denied access, except to André Maurois whom he authorized to write a biography of Adrienne de Lafayette. Chambrun produced a book using the documents he discovered covering the period of 1792–97 when Lafayette was in an Austrian prison. He organized and described the family archives, a collection dating from 1457 to 1990. The papers were microfilmed at La Grange in 1995 and 1996, for the Library of Congress. It took two years and several microfilm teams from the Library of Congress to film the 50,000 pages. Lafayette's papers are now in the Cornell University Library. Meanwhile, Chambrun purchased a sword used in battle by Lafayette in 1976, outbidding the Smithsonian Institution. Chambrun served as the honorary president of the Sons of the American Revolution in France. He became a Chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur.

Price: 299.99 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2025-01-28T16:11:15.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD