Writers' autograph manuscripts, work drafts, handwritten notebooks, autograph poems, romantic manuscript fragments

Autograph quatrain and tercet from Cocteau's youth, comprising fourteen stanzas signed by Jean Cocteau, with fifteen lines written in black ink and titled "Pour Abel Bonnard".
This manuscript poem, bearing two autograph corrections by Jean Cocteau, was later published in the collection "Le Prince frivole," issued by Mercure de France in 1910—the poet’s second published work.
On the verso of the bifolium, Cocteau drafted an early version of the poem: the title, the first line, and the very beginning of the second, with a slight variation from the final version.
This manuscript of Le Prince frivole was long thought to be lost: “Le...

Autograph letter signed by the dandy count, 46 lines written in black ink recto-verso, on Hotel de France de Pau letterhead, addressed to a poet friend.
Fold marks inherent to postal handling.
The poet expresses surprise at his friend's reproaches: "Pourquoi parlez-vous du mal que je pourrais vous faire ?... Alors il faudrait bien essayer, pour ne pas vous désobéir mais il me semble que je m'y mettrai sans conviction." (Why do you speak of the harm I could do to you?... Then I would have to try, so as not to disobey you, but it seems to me I would do so without conviction.) and leans rather toward a misunderstanding of his words: "Est-ce donc ainsi que vous...

Autograph poem by Théodore de Banville, unsigned, entitled "Les exilés," comprising 20 lines in black ink with deletions and corrections.
Vertical and horizontal fold marks from mailing.
In the upper right-hand corner, the poet has written: “envoi de livre à Don Bernardo Calderon.”
This four-quatrain poem appears to be unpublished and was seemingly not included in the collection "Les exilés" published in 1867.
«Ce  livre, pleurant  sur la gloire
Et sur le bonheur envolé,
Renferme toute notre histoire?
Qui donc n'est pas un exilé ?
[...]

Heureux celui qui sous la mer,
Penchant son triste front blémi,
Poursuit sa route aride et nue
En...

Autograph quatrain and tercet from Jean Cocteau's youth, comprising fourteen stanzas penned in black ink across 15 lines on grey paper bearing the poet’s silver monogram in the upper left corner.
Two pencil corrections in the poet’s hand.
This poem presents a variant of the version published in the collection "Le prince frivole," released by Mercure de France in 1910, Cocteau’s second published work; “Versailles dont on a tant dit” (appearing as “Le vieux parc dont on a tant dit” in the printed edition).



 

| "the time for planting has come" |
Autograph letter signed by François-René de Chateaubriand, dated March 14, 1827. 3 1/2 pages in black ink on a bifolium, addressed to Michel-Augustin Varcollier.

Chateaubriand writes to the husband of his goddaughter, Atala Stamaty-Varcollier, the first to bear the name of the heroine of his famous novel that propelled him onto the literary scene in 1801. Head of the Fine Arts Division of the Seine Prefecture, Michel-Augustin Varcollier acted as Chateaubriand's intermediary in the development of the grounds of l'Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse, his wife Céleste's grand project to house...

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo to his friend H. de Cambier, 20 lines written in black ink on a bifolium, autograph address on the verso of the final leaf.
Splendid and likely unpublished letter from Victor Hugo inviting his correspondent to the famed Romantic 'Cénacle' gatherings at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, a veritable literary institution in the 1830's.

"This Saturday the 6th,
I noticed the other evening, Sir, that you expressed, with some regret, not having a ball to attend on Sunday (tomorrow).
Now, I have managed to arrange my guard duty so as to be free tomorrow from nine o'clock to midnight (alas, I could not obtain...

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For any information contact...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Antonin Artaud on Le Dôme brasserie letterhead, addressed to Maurice Martin du Gard, founder and director of Nouvelles Littéraires. 29 lines in blue ink in a nervous handwriting.
Traces of folds and small marginal tears inherent to postal dispatch and handling. Minor stains at the beginning of the letter.

Antonin Artaud fought to have his article on Balthus's painting, exhibited for the first time in France, published. He fiercely defended the artist he considered his 'double', so similar were they physically and intellectually.

Original autograph signed and dated manuscript by Paul Claudel, for his preface to Jacques Rivière's 'A la trace de Dieu'. Seventeen and a half pages in black ink on five double leaves.
A few words crossed out and rewritten. Horizontal fold, some foxing to the first page, pencil notes by a bibliographer on the last blank page. The preface, dated June 1925, first appeared in Le Correspondant on September 25, 1925, then with Rivière's Carnets published the same year by his wife under the title 'A la trace de Dieu' (Gallimard, pp. 9-24).



Complete manuscript of Paul Claudel's moving preface to the notebooks kept by Jacques Rivière during his captivity in WW1. The writer pays...

Original signed drawing in pencil and pink crayon by Antoine de Saint-Ex­upéry, on “Navarre” watermarked paper. Horizontal fold, annotation in pencil in upper left-hand corner, min­ute tears in lower margin.

Precious drawing signed by Saint-Exupéry – the writer-artist very rarely signed his graphic works – of a caricature character, sharing some of the writer's own features.

Autograph postcard signed by Jean Paulhan, 22 lines written in black ink addressed to Felia Leal the publisher of "Paroles transparentes", a work by Jean Paulhan decorated with 14 original lithographs by Georges Braque.
Central fold mark on the card which represents the painting by Georges Braque entitled: Cliffs and Boat.
Jean Paulhan asks for news of his correspondent: "Are you completely cured? What if it were me instead who came to your place?" and is amazed by the smallness of Parisian taxis: "These taxis for dwarf people are dreadful..."
From the narrowness of taxis, Jean Paulhan shifts to Gallimard's editorial...

Long autograph letter signed by Claude Farrère, approximately 160 lines in blue ink (8 pages on two double leaves), to his friend Pierre Louÿs thanking him notably for his thoughtfulness.
Traces of folds inherent to being placed in an envelope, envelope included.
Claude Farrère praises his friend's thoughtfulness towards him: "Thank you for your letter... not only because it is exquisite, - six times more than you can believe, - but much more because I know very well that you told it to me so as 'not to worry me...' as you say." and is amazed by the problems raised by these recent articles: "Said in parentheses, I am quite stunned by the one...

Original autograph manuscript, 8 pages on 4 squared leaves, extensively revised and signed by Boris Vian. Subtle horizontal folds.
This short story, written on 7 June 1948 according to Noël Arnaud, was first published in issue no. 2 of the magazine Dans le train, and later included in the collection Le Loup Garou. The manuscript differs slightly from the printed versions.

Original autograph manuscript of a short story by Boris Vian, written in 1945 and published posthumously in the collection Le Loup-Garou in 1970.
Highly dense manuscript of 17 pages on 9 sheets, written in black ink with deletions and corrections, on perforated graph paper, dated “25.10.45” at the end of the text. One of the very rare manuscripts dated by the author.

Exceptional manuscript of Boris Vian’s first short story, written at the age of 25, just a few months after the Liberation.

Original autograph manuscript of Boris Vian's short story, first published in the magazine Une bouteille à la Mer, no.72, in 1952, then included in Vercoquin et le plancton and republished posthumously in the 1970 collection Le Loup-Garou.
Heavily revised manuscript, written in blue ink on the recto of each sheet, with corrections in purple ink and black pencil.

Ronéotype réalisé par Boris Vian de son manuscrit original, avec ajout autographe du titre : "L'amour est aveugle", nouvelle initialement parue dans la revue Paris-Tabou n°1 de 1949, puis publiée dans le recueil posthume Le Loup-Garou en 1970.

Sans doute réalisé pour conserver une copie de sa nouvelle, avant l'envoi à la revue Paris-Tabou, ce ronéotype du manuscrit originale signé a été conservé dans les archives de l'écrivain jusqu'à sa mort.
Ecrit d'un seul jet et comportant très peu de corrections, il témoigne de la créativité de l'écrivain et de son univers onirique hors du commun.

Provenance : Fondation Boris...

Important original autograph manuscript, signed, of Boris Vian’s short story written in 1950, first published in Bizarre no. 32–33 in 1964, and later included in the posthumous collection Le Loup-Garou in 1970.
With Vian’s autograph name and address at the head of the manuscript.

Extensively revised manuscript, written in blue and violet ink on the versos of each leaf, with a pasted slip of corrections mounted to page 13.

Autograph manuscript signed by André Breton, written in black ink on two sheets of green paper.
Horizontal fold to each sheet, pagination in red pencil on the 2nd sheet. Published in the journal Art, 1955.

Autograph letter signed by Remy de Gourmont addressed to a writer with whom he collaborates, 1 page on a double sheet, 14 lines in black ink, regarding a sum owed to a publisher: "On lui doit 3 fr, versables quand Ducoté aura donné les fonds du mois de juillet." ["We owe him 3 francs, payable when Ducoté has provided the funds for the month of July."]
Two small stains on the verso of the autograph letter.