FRANCE (Anatole). [Lectures volées de pages de livres non co - Lot 73

  2. Result
  3. FRANCE (Anatole). [Lectures volées de pages de livres non co - Lot 73
  4. Lot n° 73 
Lot n° 73
Go to lot
Estimation :
600 - 800 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 780EUR
FRANCE (Anatole). [Lectures volées de pages de livres non co - Lot 73
FRANCE (Anatole). [Lectures volées de pages de livres non coupés aux étals de libraires des galeries de l'Odéon.] Autograph manuscript signed. [1890]. 33pp. in-4, erasures and corrections; author's exact foliotation in ink and printer's faulty foliotation in blue pencil. Chronique "LaVie littéraire" published on January 19, 1890 in LeTemps, collected in 1891 with some variants in the third series of his articles (Paris, Calmann Lévy) under the special title "Sous les galeries de l'Odéon"). "...I was passing yesterday under the galleries of the Odéon. A teacher and two students were leafing through uncut books. Unconcerned with the cold drafts sliding down their backs, they were reading whatever the chance and the fold of the leaves allowed them to read. As I watched them, I thought of the book Stéphane Mallarmé was dreaming of, the marvellous tale that would present three distinct and superimposed meanings, and offer an interesting fable, exactly followed, even to those who read without cutting the pages. I pictured my old poet, my teacher and my two students, drunkenly wandering over such a book with their noses reddened by the cold, and in my heart I praised the ingenious poet for having, in his kindness, prepared food for poor readers, who like sparrows, live in the open air, and who feed on literature at the stalls of the bouquinistes. But on further reflection, I doubt whether the pleasure of these gentle wanderers is not more delicious as they taste it, and whether there is not a charm for them, the charm of mystery in those sudden suspensions of meaning brought about by pages that the wooden knife has not yet detached. These open-air readers must be very imaginative. Soon, they'll be off down the cold, dark streets, finishing the interrupted sentence. And no doubt they'll make it more beautiful than it really is. They'll take away an illusion, a desire, at least a curiosity. It's rare that a book leaves us with so much, when we read it all at leisure...". Anatole France also mentions Daudet, Hennique, Hervieu, Loti, Maupassant, Péladan, Uzanne, Hetzel, and explains the practice of "la pile", which, at booksellers', signaled the big launch of a new book (presented in numbers), and which contributed above all to the visibility of already famous authors. Attached: the beginning of the summary of this chronicle (one p.in-4 on the same paper).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue