CELINE LOUIS-FERDINAND (1894-1961) - Lot 83

Lot 83
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80000 - 100000 EUR
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Result : 130 000EUR
CELINE LOUIS-FERDINAND (1894-1961) - Lot 83
CELINE LOUIS-FERDINAND (1894-1961) autograph manuscript Rigodon, [1960-1961]; 806 leaves in-4 (27 x 21 cm) written on the front, mounted on tabs on ff. of vellum paper and interleaved with fine paper serpents; the whole bound in 6 strong volumes in-4, half black morocco with corners, spine set with cold filets, title and tomes, boards of red and black creation paper by Claude Braun's workshop, lining and endpapers of the same paper, cases lined with black morocco and decorated with the same paper (Loutrel). Precious complete manuscript, the only existing one of Rigodon, Céline's last novel completed the year of his death. The author had a premonition of his imminent death and feared he would not be able to finish it, as can be read in a passage of the novel: "I'm rambling, I'm going to lose you, but it's my instinct that I don't know if I'll ever finish this book [...] we only have one life, it's not much, especially me, my case that I feel the Fates scratching my thread...". On June 30, 1961, his book, started in January 1960, was finished, but Céline did not have time to make the final copy before he died on July 1. The present manuscript is the only one that exists, and it is from it that the edition will be made, after the novelist's death. Rigodon will be published by Gallimard in 1969. Long titled Colin-Maillard, the novel is renamed Rigodon in two letters of June 30, 1961 to Gaston Gallimard and Roger Nimier. As Henri Godard notes: "This title of Rigodon was a find. It has been shown that, in all his work since Death on Credit, Céline had made significant use of this rare word. We have also studied the advantage he took of the double meaning of the word: dance on the one hand, hit on the other. The dance is described in these terms by Mrs. Destouches: "The rigodon is danced on an air with two times, on the spot, without advancing nor moving back, nor going sideways." It is also worth noting that in D'un château l'autre and in Nord, it is the meaning of "shot at the goal" that appears most frequently: it is clear that, even more than the isolated uses that Céline had made of the word up to then, the entire narrative of Rigodon combines the two meanings of the word to the point of confusing them. Thus, dance and shooting or battlefield practice are both at the center of Céline's experience. Rigodon takes up the story of Céline's wanderings in the devastated Germany more or less where Nord had left him, and tells of Céline's journey to Denmark, always accompanied by his wife, Lili in the novel, the actor Robert Le Vigan (La Vigue) and the cat Bébert. There are back and forth with his life in Meudon: his quarrel with the critic Robert Poulet, the visits of untimely journalists, his tense relations with Gallimard, the support of Roger Nimier, the visit of Jean A. Ducourneau to prepare the edition of the novels in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. The novel ends with the vision of France invaded by the Chinese, who drown in streams of champagne and cognac... The manuscript is written with a ballpoint pen on the front of yellow or blue paper sheets with a lot of erasures, corrections and autograph additions (more than 3800). It is paginated by Céline from 1 to 806, and divided in 29 numbered sequences, of different lengths: 1 p. 1-6 [Pléiade 711-712]; 2 p. 7-12 [Pl. 713-714]; 3 p. 13-18 [Pl. 714-716]; 4 p. 19-20 [Pl. 716-717]; 5 pp. 21-27 [Pl. 717-719]; 6 pp. 28-34 [Pl. 719-720]; 7 pp. 35-51 [Pl. 721-725]; 8 pp. 52-53 [Pl. 725-726]; 9 pp. 54-56 [Pl. 726-727]; 10 pp. 57-67 [Pl. 727-730]; 11 pp. 68-72 [Pl. 730-731]; 12 pp. 73-76 [Pl. 731-732]; 13 pp. 77-79 [Pl. 732-733]; 14 pp. 80-161 [Pl. 733-752]; 15 pp. 162-198 [Pl. 753-761]; 16 pp. 199-313 [Pl. 762-796]; 17 pp. 314- 319 [Pl. 796-798]; 18 pp. 320-404 [Pl. 798-824]; 19 p. 405-423 [Pl. 824-829]; 20 p. 424-448 [Pl. 830-837]; 21 p. 449-458 [Pl. 837-840]; 22 pp. 459-505 [Pl. 840-853]; 23 pp. 506-535 [Pl. 853-861]; 24 pp. 536-560 [Pl. 862-868]; 25 p. 561-585 [Pl. 869-875]; 26 p. 586-632 [Pl. 875-886]; 27 pp. 633-704 [Pl. 886-903]; 28 pp. 705-790 [Pl. 903-923]; 29 pp. 791-806: "To tell the truth, it was enough... 791 pages"... [Pl. 923-927]. The binder did not take into account this division into sections: - I: pages 1-135 (including 41 bis); - II: pages 136271; - III: pages 272-399; - IV: pages 400-535; V: pages 536-672; VI: pages 673-806. BIBLIOGRAPHY Céline, Romans, t. II (ed. Henri Godard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Gallimard, 1974). PROVENANCE Mrs. Lucette Destouches, Céline's widow (certificate of sale attached, February 23, 1991).
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