Liste du Théâtre français et du Théâtre italien

List of 38 plays (15 plays performed at the Théâtre-Français and 23 at the Comédie-Italienne), probably written by one of the Marquis's secretaries.
Annotations, erasures, deletions and corrections in the Marquis de Sade's hand.
This list corresponds to theatrical plays performed from 1783 to 1785 at the Théâtre français (present-day Théâtre de l'Odéon) and at the Théâtre italien (known today as the Opéra-Comique or Salle Favart). The Marquis was in the habit of having the Almanach des spectacles sent to him each year in order to keep informed of current events on the Parisian stage. Thus in a letter of December 1784 to his wife Renée-Pélagie, he requests: "Liste d'objets dont j'ai besoin. [...] Deux almanachs [...] des spectacles. Les comédies ou tragédies nouvelles de l'année, de l'un et l'autre spectacles. J'en ai d'autant plus besoin cette année, que j'ai prodigieusement travaillé dans l'un et l'autre genre et que je ne puis me passer de ce qui paraît, pour m'instruire et vérifier." ["List of objects I need. [...] Two almanacs [...] of spectacles. The new comedies or tragedies of the year, from both theaters. I need them all the more this year, as I have worked prodigiously in both genres and I cannot do without what appears, to educate myself and verify."]. All the plays listed in this inventory appear in the theatrical almanacs reproduced by Sylvie Dangeville in her work Le Théâtre change et représente (Honoré Champion, Paris, 1999).
Anxious to maintain a link with the outside world, the Marquis ordered enormous quantities of works, notably brochures of freshly published theatrical plays. Thus in 1775, in a letter to the Widow Duchesne, a famous Parisian bookseller-publisher, he requests: "Pour l'intelligence du billet ci-joint, Madame Duchesne est priée de jeter les yeux sur l'Almanach des Spectacles, article pièces nouvelles, et en conséquence elle voudra bien remettre au présent porteur tout ce qui [a] été imprimé à l'un ou l'autre spectacle, savoir du Théâtre français depuis l'Hôtellerie ou le faux ami et du Théâtre italien depuis l'Amitié au village, l'un et l'autre inclusivement, si elles sont imprimées ou exclusivement si elles ne le sont pas, jusqu'à l'époque de la clôture des spectacles. Le porteur n'a qu'un louis ; si les pièces montaient à une somme plus forte, Madame Duchesne enverrait d'abord pour cette somme et ferait dire celle qu'il faudrait envoyer le lendemain pour avoir le total." ["For the understanding of the enclosed note, Madame Duchesne is requested to cast her eyes on the Almanach des Spectacles, article 'new plays', and consequently she will kindly give to the present bearer everything that has been printed at one or the other theater, namely from the Théâtre français since 'l'Hôtellerie ou le faux ami' and from the Théâtre italien since 'l'Amitié au village', both inclusively, if they are printed or exclusively if they are not, up to the time of the theaters' closure. The bearer has only one louis; if the plays amounted to a greater sum, Madame Duchesne would send first for this sum and would have announced the amount that would need to be sent the next day to have the total."]. The "note" referred to at the beginning of the letter is very likely the list we are offering; the two titles to which the Marquis refers appear in it.
Rare and precious list cataloguing the works read by the Marquis at the beginning of his incarceration at the Bastille, starting point of his prolific literary production.
Provenance: family archives.