1933

The scandal resulted in the dissolution of the company in 1932, and its merging with others to form Air France. In their 'France and Fascism: February 1934 and the Dynamics of Political Crisis' (Routledge, 2015), Jenkins and Millington explain the background as follows: 'In 1931, it was revealed that the owners of the prestigious airline Aéropostale, the Bouilloux-Lafont family, had diverted Aéropostale's government subsidies into other struggling companies they controlled. When these collapsed, Aéropostale fell with them.

On 14 x 9 cm piece of cream card, with 'Postkarte' printed on the other side. In very good condition, lightly aged and worn. The portrait, in black ink, is of the head and shoulders, in profile, of a middle-aged Edwardian woman, with hat and fur shawl or collar. Beneath the illustration is the inscription, tastefully lettered: 'THIS WAS ORIGINALLY MEANT FOR YOU! YOU WILL HAVE TO SIT FOR ME FOR A FEW MINUTES THEN I PROMISE TO MAKE A MORE SATISFACTORY PICTURE. | Yours most sincerely | Tony Sarg.'

36pp., 12mo, including 15 full pages of photographic illustrations and maps. Stapled, in brown printed wraps. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, with rusting staples. The front cover carries the signatures of the driver William Gilbertson and firemen John Jackson and Tom Blackett, all three men from Carlisle, as well as the fitter William Clifford Woods, of Crewe (as per the section on 'Personnel', p.8), reading: 'Driver W. Gilbertson | Royal Scot Train | T<?> Canada & USA 1933 | S on Sea 4/2/34 | Fireman T Blackett | J Jackson | Fitter W C Woods'.

Crocker made his name in the 1930s investigating and prosecuting insurance fraud (and in particular the activities of the Leopold Harris arson gang, convicted mainly through his efforts in 1933). In 2000 it emerged that at the outbreak of the Second World War he served as Deputy Director of MI5, despite being a 'Nazi sympathiser opposed to war with Hitler [...] active in Truth, a journal openly supportive of Sir Oswald Mosley' (Independent, 30 July 2000). The folio scrapbook and its contents are lightly aged and in good condition.