The hour is not for poetry.
The hour is for poets.
To all those who preserve the voice of Humankind.
And to those who are made to fall silent.
To suspended time.
Exceptionally rare autograph satirical poem by Louis Aragon, entitled Distiques pour une Carmagnole de la Honte, written between September 1944 and February 1945. 26 lines penned in black ink on a single leaf, with a note from the author in blue ink at the foot of the page.
Our manuscript belongs to a group of thirteen poems composed during the first half of 1945, intended for publication in a poetry anthology (Aragon, published by Pierre Seghers in Paris, Collection “Poètes d’aujourd’hui” no. 2, 20 July 1945). It was sent by Aragon as a working copy to his editor and friend Claude Roy. This autograph poem is the only known manuscript of the Distiques, with neither manuscript nor proofs held in the extensive Triolet-Aragon archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
"In his cosmogony, each thing, each being, plant, animal or human, deserves the same respect. For all are confronted with the same iron law: solitude." (Luc Desbenoit).
"Marc Trivier's photographs write a tragedy of light, which welcomes beings - men, trees or beasts - only by burning them, before disappearance." (Xavier-Gilles in Le Monde Libertaire).
"From thirty-five years of photographic practice, of obsessions, this is perhaps what remains: a singular mode of recording the burn of light, declined from one image to another, in a succession of propositions that resemble each other and yet each is as singular as the fraction of time to which it refers." (Marc Trivier).
"Photography says only one thing: 'It was.' One fixes only what has been. If there is a tragedy, it is there." (Marc Trivier)
"(...) instead of being a portraitist of writers and artists among so many others, he marginalizes himself through his approach: under the pretext of adjustments, he makes his models wait, he makes them pose for several minutes which gives them a weary air. He perhaps awaits more natural behavior. And we find ourselves facing Francis Bacon in precarious balance, Samuel Beckett, Jean Dubuffet or Michel Foucault more or less slumped in their chairs. Intimate images." (Sylvie Rousselle-Tellier, "Une image de fatigue chez Marc Trivier", Marges 2004).
"I was reading Genet; for me Genet was letters on a book. And then one day I saw his portrait, there was like a fracture. How was it possible that these signs were also someone? Making a portrait is welding back together the name and the face." (Marc Trivier).
"What interested me was not simply to photograph a body or a face, but this particular situation which is someone in the process of taking the photo of someone else." (Marc Trivier).
First edition.
Black half morocco binding, spine with four raised bands adorned with gilt dotted fillets and double gilt compartments decorated at the corners, gilt date and the inscription "Ex. de J. Drouet" at the tail, marbled paper boards and endpapers, preserved covers and spine, top edge gilt, binding signed by René Aussourd.
Some minor foxing, mainly at the beginning and end of the volume.
Precious signed and inscribed copy by Victor Hugo to Juliette Drouet, the great love of his life: ‘To you, my lady. Humble homage. V.'
This copy comes from the library of Pierre Duché, who acquired Juliette Drouet's entire library and commissioned René Aussourd to bind the volumes uniformly, marking each with an identifying inscription at the foot of the spine.
Bookplates pasted on a pastedown and a flyleaf.
In late 1878, after more than forty years together, Victor Hugo and Juliette Drouet finally moved in together at Avenue d'Eylau, in the small town house where the poet would spend his final years. "From that moment on, Juliette's life became little more than an unbroken sorrow, a servitude of every hour. She herself suffered from stomach cancer, knowing she was condemned—to die of hunger!" (Louis Guimbaud, Victor Hugo et Juliette Drouet, Paris, 1927). Despite her illness and severe physical weakness, she remained devotedly at Hugo's side as his caregiver. It was during this time that Bastien Lepage painted a strikingly realistic portrait of her: "From her goddess-like face, once serene and noble, the relentless illness had made a frail human visage, drawn and hollowed, furrowed with wrinkles—each one telling a story of pain." (ibid.)
Religions et religions was published two years before Juliette's death; is was one of the last books Hugo dedicated to the unwavering love of his life. In a final tribute to her lifelong devotion, he later offered her a photograph inscribed: "Fifty years—that is the most beautiful marriage."
Copy from the most intimate source.
First edition of this selection established by Paul Léautaud and Adolphe van Bever, a Service de Presse (advance) copy.
Worming to boards, two lacks to head and foot of spine.
Precious and handsome signed autograph inscription from Paul Léautaud to Henri Béraud: "... ces fleurs de lyrisme..." ["...these flowers of lyricism..."]
Provenance: from the library of Henri Béraud from Ré.
First edition on ordinary paper.
Handsome autograph inscription from Paul Eluard to Raymond Queneau on the first volume: "... ce livre qui nous rajeunit...[…this book that makes us young again…]"
