KESSEL (Joseph). [Armorin]. Unsigned autograph manuscript. 1953. 5 leaves in-8, 13.5 x 21 cm, handwritten on the front. Draft, with erasures and additions, of the preface to the book published in 1953 by the Véziant bookshop, "François-Jean Armorin. Son dernier grand reportage", pp. 7-9. "I have rarely heard of a rebel, - in the good sense of the word - a non-conformist as authentic, as pure as Armorin". Kessel was very close to the young war reporter François-Jean Armorin (1923-1950), who died in a plane crash off the coast of Bahrain. Armorin is regarded as a benchmark of investigative journalism, and Kessel compares him to Albert Londres, Louis Roubaud, Claude Blanchard... Enclosed: [Préface Toutain]. Unsigned autograph manuscript, 1951. 1 f. in-8, 13.5 x 21 cm, handwritten on both sides. Draft with erasures and additions for the preface published in Toutain's book. "Mes quatre-cents coups". Paris, Amiot Dumont, 1951, pp. 9-11. Kessel paints a portrait of his friend, the actor Roland Toutain (1905-1977), who played Narbonne in "L'équipage", Anatole Litvak's adaptation of Kessel's novel.