Pierre Plantard, Clarification. Reply to Pierre Pons.
(Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, DÉPÔT LÉGAL, 4° Z Piece 1182, 02-03-1979). Pages 1-2. French original

1554546
L’OR DE RENNES
Page 1

PIERRE PLANTARD DE SAINT-CLAIR
           REPLY TO PIERRE PONS

In an article in “LA DÉPÊCHE” dated Sunday 4th February 1979, Pierre PONS mentioned my name and the book “SIGNÉ: ROSE+CROIX” in connection with  “…three new victims” of the ACCURSED TREASURE OF RENNES-LE-CHÂTEAU.

It flatters me excessively to describe this book as “...authoritative...” because although all readers will know that this book is the reprint of “L'OR DE RENNES” first published in November 1967 by Éditions RENÉ JULLIARD, hardly any of them will know that the author GÉRARD de SÈDE was actually the ‘front man’ for my works.

The purpose of this “Clarification” is to retrace in a few lines the origin of the publication SIGNÉ: ROSE+CROIX, and so enable readers to appreciate the true value of the “Preface” I wrote for the book “LA VRAIE LANGUE CELTIQUE” by Abbé BOUDET, published by Éditions PIERRE BELFONT in December 1978.

On 17th July 1965, after the manuscript of L'OR DE RENNES had been completed, I contacted (as I had previously agreed to do with Éditions JULLIARD) Monsieur Pierre JAVET, that firm’s Publishing Director. Miss Janine MUSY replied on his behalf, and we met on Monday 26th July 1965. After a reading of the manuscript it was agreed that publication would go ahead.

In December 1965, not wishing to see my name appear as the “author” of this work, I contacted Gérard de SÈDE . He was totally unaware of the existence of RENNES-LE-CHÂTEAU, but he had been my co-author on the book “LES TEMPLIERS SONT PARMI NOUS”, and I held towards him those sincere feelings of friendship that a master always feels towards his most faithful companion. In an agreement dated 31st January 1966, registered under n° H 27276, Gérard de SÈDE allowed his name to be used as author of L'OR DE RENNES in exchange for a 35% share of my royalties. The contract was to be signed at the publisher's offices on 1st March 1966…

When the contract was due to be signed, Gérard de Sède advised that he was unwell, and subsequently telephoned me to ask for 50% of the royalties in return for using his name. Later he used the excuse that he had asked Monsieur DEBANT, the Director of the Archives of the Aude, for more information, as well as the fact that he was awaiting a reply from Colonel ARNAUD, whom he had asked for details about the code used on the tombstone of the Marquise de BLANCHEFORT! This haggling lasted until December 1966…

Confronted with these facts, Monsieur Christian BOURGOIS (director of Éditions JULLIARD) and myself considered publishing L'OR DE RENNES under the name of Philippe de CHÉRISEY. This prompted Gérard de SÈDE to sign the original contract, which he did on 13th January 1967. It was then agreed that he would correct the printer's proofs. I myself also arranged for him to appear in a television programme hosted by Pierre LAFORET.

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When, on 10th November 1967, I received the volumes from Éditions JULLIARD I was astonished to read, on pages 132 to 137, a commentary mentioning Monsieur DEBANT and Colonel ARNAUD, along with reproductions of fake parchments and the falsification of some of my photographs. Further enquiry revealed that Gérard de SÈDE had taken advantage of his proofreading duties to introduce into the book certain figments of his own imagination. The book was already on the market, so it was too late to do anything about it.

In March 1977, Éditions JULLIARD separately informed Gérard de SÈDE and myself that they were withdrawing L'OR DE RENNES from commercial sale after 10 years on the market. Gérard de SÈDE represented himself to Éditions PLON as the author of L'OR DE RENNES, thus abusing their trust, and asked for the book to be reprinted under the title “SIGNÉ: ROSE+CROIX”. This is how, on 20th June 1977, in a bookshop, I discovered the plagiarism and fresh deception of the man who, in the words of Pierre PONS “is supposed to be an authority on the subject”.

Since 10th JULY 1977 I have embargoed the sale of the book “SIGNÉ: ROSE+CROIX”, which is full of errors, including one on the first page... (in his incompetence, Gérard de SÈDE did not even notice that the “devil” was depicted back to front). On 24th October 1977 I also forbade publication of this plagiarized version of L'OR DE RENNES in the paperback series “J'AI LU”.

In April 1978, Monsieur Pierre BELFONT contacted me and asked me to write a preface to a book he wished to republish, namely “LA VRAIE LANGUE CELTIQUE” by Abbé Henri BOUDET, but before giving him an affirmative answer I consulted various people to check on the advisability of this publication. Unfortunately in doing so an indiscretion occurred which enabled Gérard de SÈDE to find out about the project. He then used the documentation I had entrusted to him, as well as my photocopies of Abbé BOUDET's book, to rush into print with a new edition of LA VRAIE LANGUE CELTIQUE!

I leave it to my readers to decide for themselves what they think of Gérard de SÈDE's way of going about things, since my present reply is no more than a clarification of an article by Pierre PONS.

[Signature]

Pierre PLANTARD de SAINT-CLAIR

(1) In 1955 my uncle bought from Madame JAMES the three parchments discovered by Abbé SAUNIÈRE, the parish priest of Renne-le-Château. These documents have now been in the safe of an English bank for some 24 years.