Robert de MONTESQUIOU
Lettre autographe signée adressée à Henri Lapauze évoquant leurs amitiés et inimitiés dans le monde des lettres et des arts : "... Si je n'ai pas lu votre critique de mon livre, en revanche, j'ai pris, connaissance de celle que vous avez consacrée à l'aimable jeune homme qu'il s'agissait de punir pour avoir dit trois fois ; au cours d'un dîner : Marie Murat. (peut-être aurait-il suffi de lui donner à copier septante fois sept fois...) "
S. n.|Artagnan 1908|20.50 x 26.50 cm|7 feuillets recto
Autograph letter signed by the dandy count, 68 lines written in black ink on seven folios recto, probably addressed to his friend and bibliographer, the critic Henri Lapauze:
"Artagnan,
My dear friend,
the interesting review (which I would very much like to know...) has escaped me. Can you send it to me; or, at least, a date indication that would allow me to find it? As for what you write to me about my "social successes," you don't think the first word of it (fortunately for us!) - otherwise, you would start by "not speaking to me" as Favre used to say; and you would be quite right. Well! in all things, one must consider not only the end, but the true and the false, the good and the bad, the authentic and the counterfeit, as I believed I could write, even about snobbery! When it comes to letters - even more so to ladies of letters, on no point does this difference stand out with such clarity. - who knows this better than you? No, once again, we must not (and this is very important) let the mockeries of what we know how to do prevent us from manifesting ourselves. That would play too well into the hands of the monkeys, who already have enough coconut trees as it is. For this reason, I believed I should offer the noble Engadin larches the favor of hearing me. And their murmur did not reproach me for it. I am going to write to a certain Lady of letters (in the good sense of the term) to speak to her about her beautiful book. Your friend and hers Robert de M. Sept 08. Via Vic-Bigorre Hts Pyr.
P.S.: (urgent) Only you can affirm to me with sufficient guarantee that Liem is still alive, as I believe, and wish to affirm in an article which, being in press, requires the information without delay. When you are reconciled with an etcher whom you do not like, I will offer you for an engraving exhibition, a portrait of me, by him, which at least, you will love. If I have not read your critique of my book, on the other hand, I have taken note of the one you devoted to the amiable young man whom it was necessary to punish for having said three times during a dinner: Marie Murat. (perhaps it would have been enough to make him copy seventy times seven times...) In any case, you will have been harsh. The crime deserved it. Perhaps also, one day you will speak ill of me (although that seems unlikely to me...) But what I can affirm is that... it will not be for that! ..."
Fold marks inherent to envelope mailing.
"Artagnan,
My dear friend,
the interesting review (which I would very much like to know...) has escaped me. Can you send it to me; or, at least, a date indication that would allow me to find it? As for what you write to me about my "social successes," you don't think the first word of it (fortunately for us!) - otherwise, you would start by "not speaking to me" as Favre used to say; and you would be quite right. Well! in all things, one must consider not only the end, but the true and the false, the good and the bad, the authentic and the counterfeit, as I believed I could write, even about snobbery! When it comes to letters - even more so to ladies of letters, on no point does this difference stand out with such clarity. - who knows this better than you? No, once again, we must not (and this is very important) let the mockeries of what we know how to do prevent us from manifesting ourselves. That would play too well into the hands of the monkeys, who already have enough coconut trees as it is. For this reason, I believed I should offer the noble Engadin larches the favor of hearing me. And their murmur did not reproach me for it. I am going to write to a certain Lady of letters (in the good sense of the term) to speak to her about her beautiful book. Your friend and hers Robert de M. Sept 08. Via Vic-Bigorre Hts Pyr.
P.S.: (urgent) Only you can affirm to me with sufficient guarantee that Liem is still alive, as I believe, and wish to affirm in an article which, being in press, requires the information without delay. When you are reconciled with an etcher whom you do not like, I will offer you for an engraving exhibition, a portrait of me, by him, which at least, you will love. If I have not read your critique of my book, on the other hand, I have taken note of the one you devoted to the amiable young man whom it was necessary to punish for having said three times during a dinner: Marie Murat. (perhaps it would have been enough to make him copy seventy times seven times...) In any case, you will have been harsh. The crime deserved it. Perhaps also, one day you will speak ill of me (although that seems unlikely to me...) But what I can affirm is that... it will not be for that! ..."
Fold marks inherent to envelope mailing.
€900