March 2019 Auction Ends Thursday, March 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/28/2019
Marcel Proust autograph letter signed, written late in the night of 11 July 1910 to Max Daireaux, whom he had met two years earlier in Cabourg, France; Cabourg was the inspiration for the resort town of Balbec in Proust's novel ''In Search of Lost Time''. In this four page letter, Proust writes about going to ''Le Figaro'' and ''with a certain melancholy'' taking back his manuscript for ''Contre Sainte-Beuve''. Letter reads in full, ''Monday to Tuesday night / Dear friend / As a post scriptum to the letter that you must have received from me this evening, I told myself that I could perhaps go see [Andre] Beaunier, with whom I am not particularly associated, but whom I could, while chatting, ask to do something. I got up and went to Figaro. Alas, Beaunier had left, [Arman de] Caillavet (to whom, for example, I could write if you wanted) had come in the afternoon, and Robert de Flers, who is, they tell me, suffering from gout (?), has not come in for three months! All I could do was, with a certain melancholy, take my novel's manuscript back from this publisher where I had previously been more pampered. It seems to me that all the journals are full of your book; it is true that its name jumps out at me more than others and that is why I notice it more (a truism). Forgive me for not writing more. I am broken. If Reboux does something it would perhaps be good for you to send a card to Reynaldo (9 rue Alfred de Vigny). I am waiting for a word from you regarding Liberte (Flers). They didn't know at Figaro. Keep an eye out for something else I could do. With friendship / Marcel Proust''. Four page letter is written in black ink on card-style bifolium stationery measuring 8.75'' x 6.75'' unfolded. Letter has been documented in Kolb's archive of Proust letters, Vol. X, number 64, with the date identified as 11-12 July 1910. Pinhole at intersecting folds, and fold through signature. Overall very good plus condition. With full translation.
Marcel Proust Autograph Letter Signed -- ''...All I could do was, with a certain melancholy, take my novel's manuscript back from this publisher where I had previously been more pampered...''
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