Complete works of Goethe comprising his poetry, theater, novels, critical essays and correspondence. Gothic printing in 2 columns. 5 superb steel engravings on thick paper under yellow tissue guards in volume 2 by Kaulbach and Felner in Gothic or classical style and engraved by English engravers, 2 engravings in volume 3. One of the first complete works of the author who died in 1833. The same publisher had issued this edition in 55 thin volumes in 1833, here delivering a more compact and manageable version.
German contemporary full green shagreen binding. Smooth spine decorated with rococo tools connected by long fillets. Gilt title and volume number. Double fillet frame on boards. Top edge gilt and marbled edges. Beautiful black and orange marbled endpapers. Laid paper of superb freshness, completely free of foxing. Spine lightly faded. Traces of rubbing at headcaps, small dark stains on spine of volume 2 and on volume 3.
Magnificent copy.
Handwritten manuscript signed by the choreographer Maurice Béjart.
10 leaves written in blue pen. Handwritten pagination.
Maurice Béjart's handwritten proofs for his book Béjart-theâtre: A-6-Roc (éditions Plume, 1992), about his play A-6-Roc, first performed in the same year at the Vidy theatre in Lausanne.
After the foundation of “Béjart Ballet Lausanne” and his definitive departure from Belgium in 1987, Béjart continues to stage operas, produce films and publish several books (novel, memories, personal diary...). In addition, he wrote and directed his third play A-6-Roc performed in Lausanne in 1992, which he published with commentaries in a book entitled Béjart-theâtre: A-6-Roc. The play features seven characters in search of a lost paradise, and calls for a deep reflection on the choreographer's memory and childhood. Béjart takes the leading role and gives the lines to Gil Roman, his favourite dancer during the period in Lausanne, who will succeed him as the head of his company in 2007.
A-6-Roc was probably Béjart's favourite play and it will be the only one that he will agree to publish. Largely inspired by Jean Anouilh's theatre, and even more so by that of Eugène Ionesco, the play makes use of his childhood in the South of France. This manuscript, which provides valuable information on the staging and scenery, was published with the original play in 1992. The present, the past and the future come together in this play through three characters – a patriarchal figure played by Béjart himself, another embodying youth played by Gil Roman (“6 must be at least twice the age of Mr A. This generational difference creates their tension and also their bond.”) and a clown, called Roc, played by the actor Phillipe Olza. The influence of the theatre of the absurd is easily detected here, as much in the scenery choices as in the psychology of the characters: “the play's first scene, that can last from 3 to 6 or 7 minutes, is nothing but mechanical movement of the body [...] conjuring up the useless and empty activity of the world of concentration camps.”
The playwright Béjart nevertheless remains faithful to the “spectacle total” idea, for which he was well known as a choreographer. The play is inundated with dance and movement – particularly in the theatre choir (“four characters I should say, since nothing pleases me less than the uniformity of the Greek pseudo-choirs and other aestheticizing corps de ballet”) and Béjart devotes the last four leaves to the music (“it plays right through the play, like dolphins following a boat”) ranging from Nino Rota to the syrupy music of Jackie Gleason. Beyond the theatre, Béjart wanted, with A-6-ROC, to create a complete work of art, including all performance genres, and in this manuscript he demonstrates his talent as a playwright and a producer.
Invaluable manuscript on the last play that Béjart wrote, produced and performed. It features amongst the choreographer's very rare, privately owned documents, his archives being shared between his house in Brussels, the Béjart foundation in Lausanne and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie.
Provenance: Maurice Béjart's personal archives.
Handwritten manuscript signed by the choreographer Maurice Béjart, sent to his publisher with a handwritten letter on two leaves.
9 leaves, 145 lines written in blue pen. Hand-pagination of the manuscript (1-7) and the letter to his publisher (a-b).
Maurice Béjart's handwritten reflections, entitled “Mémoire” “Memoirs,” make up the last chapter of his work Béjart-theâtre: A-6-ROC (Editions Plume, 1992), regarding his eponymous play that was created the same year in Lausanne.
After the foundation of “Béjart Ballet Lausanne” and his definitive departure from Belgium in 1987, Béjart continues to stage operas, produce films and publish several books (novel, memories, personal diary...). In addition, he writes and stages three plays: La Reine Verte, Casta Diva and finally A-6-ROC, to which dedicates a book. The play features seven characters in search of a lost paradise, and calls for a deep reflection on memory .
The last chapter of his book on A-6-ROC, the manuscript of which we have here, is a mixture of philosophical thought and commentaries on the play: “The first idea for the scenery for A-6-Roc was an enormous library [...] where the two characters in a drama called life, no-longer know if the words they say are theirs or those of the generations who preceded them in this prison of knowledge.” Implicitly, the author-choreographer maintains that the memory, although salutary for Man, harms the creative faculties. A series of questions on “Me,” where one can detect Montaigne's influence, follows: “I am a series of moments, of looks, of emotions, of expectations. I am the fruit that I eat, the air that I breath, the cat that I stroke, the book that I read, the look that I remember.”
Provenance: Maurice Béjart’s personal archives.
First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on pur fil paper, this copy one of 10 hors commerce, the only grand papier (deluxe) copies.
A nice copy despite the very slightly sunned spine.
Autograph inscription dated and signed by Marguerite Yourcenar to Maurice Bourdel, director of publishing house Plon, and his wife : "... cette Electre perdue dans "un monde où l'ordre n'est pas"
