FORT Paul (1872-1960)

Lot 120
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Estimation :
1200 - 1500 EUR
FORT Paul (1872-1960)
MANUSCRIPT autograph signed "Paul Fort", William the Conqueror. Chronique de France in five acts, September 1925-January 1926; one volume in-fol. of 145 pages written on the front, plus autograph cover on red paper, red half-marocco binding with corners, spine with nerves, gilt head (Bernasconi). Complete original manuscript of this chronicle and drama. The play will appear, act by act, between April and October 1927, in the Mercure de France, under the title Guillaume le Bâtard, ou la Conquête de l'Angleterre, chronique de France en 5 actes; it does not seem to have been performed. The drama features Edward the Confessor, King of England, Harold the Earl of Wessex "then National King of the English", William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, "King of England in the last act", Pope Alexander II, the Archbishop of Canterbury, etc., no less than 29 characters, not counting warriors, monks, soldiers, etc., plus two invisible characters, "in Heaven". Each act has a title: I Edward the Confessor (in London), II Hildebrand (in Rome), III Sigurd Longuepête (in Bayeux), IV Edith at the Swan's Neck (the dunes of Saint-Valery, at the mouth of the Somme), V Harold (near Hastings). The manuscript presents some erasures and corrections 2 L.A.S. has been linked at the head. to Antoine GIRARD, 1925-1926 (3 pages and a half in-4 or in-8), with an autographed photograph of his children Hélène and François, paying homage to the manuscript of this "Shakespearean" play, "the most important work I have ever undertaken", which he wishes to present to the director of the Odéon Firmin Gémier : it is "at the same time as a very thorough psychological study, a tumultuous fresco of this magnificent and powerful period, where, I admit, there is "barbarity", but finally an unsurpassed ardour, to support his convictions, a fresco of the 11th century English, French, Norman, and even Italian, where we see England conquered by the French, [...].... and "face" the greatest problems that still trouble us"...
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