PIAF & CERDAN:

PIAF & CERDAN:

PIAF & CERDAN: Edith Piaf (1915-1963) French singer, one of the most celebrated performers of the 20^th century. Vintage blue fountain pen ink signature ('Avec ma bien vive sympathie, Edith Piaf') on an 8vo page removed from an autograph album; Marcel Cerdan (1916-1949) French boxer, World Middleweight champion 1948-49. Rare vintage black fountain pen ink signature and inscription ('Mon Meilleur souvenir a Monsieur Castelli, Marcel Cerdan') on an 8vo page removed from the same autograph album. Autographs of Cerdan are rare in any form as a result of his unfortunate death at the age of 33. An excellent and desirable pair of signatures. Some very light, extremely minor staining to the edges, otherwise VG, 2

Piaf and the married boxer Cerdan began an affair in the summer of 1948 and the couple soon became devoted to each other. The middleweight boxer was tragically killed in an airplane crash on 28^th October 1949 en route from Paris to New York, where he was going to visit Piaf who was singing in the American city. Piaf dedicated one of her most famous songs, Hymne a l'amour, which she recorded in 1950, to Cerdan, the love of her life.