GIDE André (1869-1951)

Lot 78
Go to lot
Estimation :
2000 - 3000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 2 527EUR
GIDE André (1869-1951)
If the Grain does not die, corrected proofs with autograph annotations. Under two titled slipcases, covered with glossy paper in-4 and in-12. Corrected proofs for the first edition in bookstores of his book Si le Grain ne meurt (Nrf, 1924-1926). Important set of 163 in-4 leaves, from different prints before layout with numerous autograph annotations, and about 400 in-16 leaves printed after layout. Si le Grain ne meurt ne meurt, literary memoirs, shameless confession, social and family fresco. Gide had stated very early on the desire to publish memoirs during his lifetime, and in 1893 he opened a file of chronologically arranged notes entitled "De me ipso". He continued to write it until 1919, and had it printed under the title Si le Grain ne meurt ne en 1920-1921, in two volumes of 13 copies, intended for his relatives. He decided to publish the work in bookshops in October 1926 (Nrf, 3 volumes dated 1924), but first attracted the unanimous reproaches of his relatives and critics. He then explained that this publication was for him a choice based on a pressing inner necessity. By his own hand, he changed all the proper names - including that of his wife Madeleine to Emmanuelle, as in Les Cahiers d'André Walter - deleted passages bearing derogatory attacks, added several whole sentences, reworked the style of many passages. Thus, on the subject of his adulterous aunt and her cousin's suffering in this regard, Gide deletes almost the entire paragraph: "I think today that nothing affected this child more than having to hide from her father that she venerated this open secret, which was laughed at by the maids". He replaces it with "I think today that nothing could be more cruel for a child who was nothing but purity, love and tenderness, than to have to judge her mother and reprove her conduct; and what complicated the torment was to have to keep for herself alone, and hide from her father whom she venerated, this secret which she had somehow surpris
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue