DAUDET Alphonse (1840-1897) - Lot 84

Lot 84
Go to lot
Estimation :
4000 - 5000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 5 200EUR
DAUDET Alphonse (1840-1897) - Lot 84
DAUDET Alphonse (1840-1897) Autograph notebook, Sapho, [1883]; 184-page (14 x 9.5 cm) in-8 notebook; original blue cloth spine binding; green morocco book case. Precious notebook, witness of the genesis of the novel Sapho. Sapho, moeurs parisiennes, written in 1883, published in L'Écho de Paris, was published in volume by Charpentier in 1884. It is known that Daudet transposed his own youth and his long and stormy affair with Marie Rieu. The notebook bears the label of the Papeterie de l'Odéon, Chelu. The first page shows Daudet's hesitations to find the title of his "Parisian novel": Thaïs, Léda, Psyché, Salomé, Le faune, La faunesse are considered; but one can already read the famous dedication: "For my sons when they are twenty years old". On the same page, Daudet noted this autograph dispatch: "To my dear Henry Céard The embryo of Sapho Alph. Daudet". This term of embryo is not put there at random. It is all the gestation of the novel which lives again in these pages, since the brief notations until the beginning of the draft. A first draft manuscript, abundantly crossed out and corrected, the notebook is in fact a first version, a very detailed outline - and sometimes already written - of the XV chapters of the novel, generally on the right-hand page; while on the facing page, Daudet notes developments, additional ideas, sentences, episodes to be added, lines, etc.; for example: "Letters that Sapho writes to him, she speaks of the moral good that he has done her. Better, more honest. He on the contrary took his evil" (in the margin of chap. VI); or: "This half-separation sharpens the glue. piquant desire of Sunday. Sometimes the evening he goes there. The small lounge. Whist. Music. Fanny's good manner, which amuses. Gives the tone to all this world. The Peruvian: "a great Coucoute". - He goes... stars above the triumphal arch, is part of the Parisian lighting" (in margin of chapter VII). The first pages show Daudet's hesitations as to the name of his hero: Jean Jourdan, Gastier, Gosselin, and finally Gaussin; as to his activity: student at the Ecole des Chartes or student-consul. In the same way, Sapho (chap. III) is called Marie Masson, the name of Masson being overloaded by that of Legrand; it is only much later that the first name of Marie (too close to reality) will be replaced by that of Fanny. On the first page, there are notes on the family of Jean Gosselin-Gaussin; further on, accounts of the ages of the main characters; lists of names; ideas or sketches of various episodes; lines; the draft of Fanny's farewell letter which concludes the novel, etc. Note that the last chapters bear titles that were later abandoned: XIV La rechûte, XV Le rendez-vous. Provenance Former collections of Louis BARTHOU (ex-libris; II, n° 1031) and Gérard de BERNY (ex-libris; I, n° 95); Daniel SICKLES (I, 51).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue