A major LIBRARY of documentation in French, English and Chinese by Frédéric EDELMANN (1951-2024), a journalist with Le Monde, mainly devoted to French and international architecture. It includes reference works on ancient, modern and contemporary architecture, exhibition catalogues and monographs devoted to architects (Vitruvius, Palladio, Piranesi, Pujet, Lecqueu, Mansart, Soufflot, Hittorff, Garnier, Labrouste, Van de Velde, Gaudi, Le Corbusier, Mackintosh, Lloyd Wright, Frank Ghery), cities (Moscow, New York, Chicago, Paris, Aleppo), countries (France, Italy, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Arab world), theoretical works and heritage publications.Particular attention has been paid in this library to Chinese and Japanese architecture and culture in general (religion, cities (Shanghai, Beijing, etc.), ancient architecture, bridges, Chinese regions, literature, personalities, Mao, etc.), Some of the works are enriched with autographs signed by the authors or architects, notably Renzo Piano, Henri Ciriani, Christian de Portzamparc, Henri Gaudin, Laurent Greilsamer, and a number of works on history and art history, as well as a few works in Chinese and Japanese. It was by mutual agreement with Caroline Edelmann that we decided to sell the library of her husband Frédéric Edelmann (1951-2024) in a single lot, in order to preserve the integrity and coherence of this important documentary source from which he drew for his writing. Frédéric Edelmann was a journalist and critic at Le Monde since 1977, specialising in architecture and urban planning. In 1977, the year the Centre Pompidou was inaugurated, Frédéric Edelmann joined Le Monde as a freelancer in the cultural department. He covered architecture, heritage and urban planning alongside and with the support of leading figures such as André Fermigier and André Chastel. He chronicled major construction projects, particularly in Paris during the Mitterrand years. Editor and member of the society of editors of Le Monde in 1979, he became deputy head of the cultural department from 1981 to 1984 and head of the press and audiovisual sector. However, it is his columns on architecture, heritage and town planning that remain his main interests and the focus of an activity in which he seeks to assert critical freedom. Frédéric Edelmann's sharp, elegant and witty writing has accompanied the emergence of a new generation of architects who are profoundly renewing the discipline, including Piano, Gaudin, Gehry, Nouvel, Portzamparc, Koolhaas, Venturi & Scott Brown and Isozaki. Many of the books in his library are devoted to them, and some are dedicated to him. An attentive observer of professional practices, he is able to present the many implications of an architectural project in all their breadth and clarity. In 1983, fascinated by the inclusion of architecture in cities, he curated the exhibition "Chicago Architecture-1833-1983" (Paris 1983, Chicago 1984) and co-authored the catalogue, before analysing the changes in Barcelona in the run-up to the 1992 Olympic Games. He was appointed administrator of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (1987-1991). In 1990, the Ministry of Public Works awarded him the Grand Prix National de la critique architecturale for his columns on architecture, heritage and urban planning, in recognition of "his courageous stance and freedom of expression". In 1993, he was awarded the medal for architectural analysis by the Academy of Architecture, of which he became an associate member, as well as the City of Barcelona prize for journalistic coverage of the urban transformations of the Catalan metropolis (1993 and 2006). He was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2002 (Ministry of Health), and an Officier des Arts et Lettres (Ministry of Culture). After the UNESCO symposium on world heritage in Suzhou (1998), he became heavily involved as a columnist and lecturer in the defence of Chinese heritage and the revival of contemporary architecture. For some fifteen years, he covered China's urban transformations, endeavouring to publicise the destruction affecting cities and their heritage, but also the emergence of a new generation of architects and the Pharaonic construction site of the Beijing Olympic Games, etc. From 1998 to 2008, he took part in the work of the Observatory of Contemporary Architecture in China (Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine). He was a member of the steering committee for the Franco-Chinese symposium on the city, architecture and heritage at Tongji University (2005 in Shanghai). In 2008 he curated the exhibitions "Dans la Ville chinoise" and "Positions, une nouvelle génération d'architectes chinois" (Cité de l'architecture - Paris; Barcelona, Valencia). In 2014 he published two books, "Made by Chinese", on the contemporary dimensions of this work (Editions Galerie Navarra). He is regarded as one of the leading specialists in the field. His library contains numerous works, mainly on China but also on Japan. Frédéric Edelmann co-founded the Patrimoine sans frontières association with François Bloch-Lainé in 1992, and was its president from 1994 to 1997. Its aim is to work in partnership with other organisations around the world, and in conjunction with humanitarian organisations, to find solutions to the destruction of vital elements of people's cultures. In particular, the association works to preserve Beirut's city centre, the heritage of Croatia and Bosnia, the Skodra photo library (Albania) and the transmission of traditional building techniques in Cameroon. Although the library we are presenting has nothing to do with this other aspect of his life, we cannot talk about Frédéric Edelmann without mentioning his commitment to the fight against AIDS. He was one of the first to sound the alarm about the scale of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. "Aids thrives on ignorance" was his credo. In 1984, along with Daniel Defert and Dr Jean Florian Mettetal, he was one of the three founders of the AIDES association, for which he acted as general secretary until 1987. Edelmann and Mettetal then left AIDES to reorganise the programmes of the ARCAT-SIDA association, which focuses on professionals in research, medicine and social action. President of the association (1996-97), in 1989 he founded Le Journal du Sida, the first French monthly magazine providing information on all issues relating to HIV, with the support of the French Ministry of Health. In 2002, he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur by the French Ministry of Health for his commitment to the association. Frédéric Edelmann died on 25 January 2024 in Paris.