MALRAUX André (1901-1976). La Condition humaine (Paris, Libraire Gallimard, 1933); in-12 (18,6 x 11,7 cm), 402 p., [1 f.], paperback, gray half-box folder, lined slipcase. First edition (press service). Autograph signed on the title page to Louis-Ferdinand Céline : " To L. F. Céline with the great artistic sympathy of André Malraux ". Underneath, original pen drawing of a curious bird (ostrich?). A summit meeting of two of the great novelists of the century. In an interview with Frédéric Grover in 1973, André Malraux drew a parallel between Céline's work and his own: "It seems to me that there is one great difference: the absence of any collectivity in the Journey. The collective notion dominates The Human Condition. At that time, positing Chinese communism when no one was interested in it was a great novelty. [As for the differences between The Journey and The Human Condition, one point seems crucial to me: I place myself within a metaphysical problem. Provenance : Colonel Daniel Sickles (sale Littérature du XXe siècle, 13-15 June 1983, n°340) ; Dominique de Villepin (ex-libris, sale Feux et Flammes, I Les Voleurs de feu, 2013, n° 131). Exhibition : André Malraux (Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de- Vence, 1973 (n° 259).