Lot n° 111
Estimation :
200 - 300
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 348EUR
DUMAS FILS ALEXANDRE (1824-1895) ÉCRIVAIN - Lot 111
DUMAS FILS ALEXANDRE (1824-1895) ÉCRIVAIN
9 L.A.S., [Paris and Puys 1878-1889], to Count Joseph PRIMOLI; 43 pages in-8, 3 envelopes.
Interesting correspondence.
19 January 1878]. Condolences, with reflections on death: "This is the first time it has shown itself to you; it will happen again. These are sorrows, it is not an evil. It is by seeing others die that we get used to the idea of dying ourselves"... [August 1881]. The false news that Primoli's father had died worried him greatly. "As for the draft treaty you sent me, I intend not to write for the theatre any more, but you must not answer for it. If I return to it, what is certain is that I will not make any commitment with the foreigner before the performance of the play in Paris"... [27 August 1883]. He asks for news of his mother [Princess Charlotte
Bonaparte, Countess Primoli], who is suffering from a nervous illness, ironically referring to the "God of justice and love" who has made her like this... Having deplored the earthquake in Ischia, he speaks of the happy ones, or those "who suffer the least", the priest being "a superior egoist"... [12 August 1884]. "I went at once to register with Princess Mathilde, whom I will return to see today"... He summarizes his answer to De Filippi, concerning an exclusive right of representation in Italy: he wanted to give this right to the DUSE, not to sell it to Mrs Tessero, and besides he does not want to deal any more in advance with the Italian directors, "for fear of making them make too bad speculations"... [26 July 1885]. He will come to Paris only for the time of the Conservatoire competition. "I would have been delighted to hear Denise with you [...]. I am very happy to hear that the Princess will come and especially that you will perhaps spend some time with her"... January 22, 1888]. He knew by a dispatch of the Duse the great success of Francillon but did not answer, being all to Édouard de BEAUMONT in his last illness: "I bury many of my contemporaries [...]. The more I see people die, the less I dread death. I even often envy it when I see the great calm, the great indifference, the great serenity of the dead. What is very curious is that it does not inspire in me any hope, any fear of the hereafter"... Beaumont was one of the last natural originals, and had a sincere love of "solitude, work and simplicity, next to his swords, of which he was offered a fortune and which he absolutely wanted to leave to the museum of Cluny, at least the most beautiful ones, which he did, thanks to the one hundred thousand francs which daily work and ascetic thrift gave him, and which he leaves by passing them through my hands to the woman who surrounded him with care during his last years"... March ? 1889]. Remarks in hushed tones on the drama at Princess MATHILDE's: the affair of her lady-in-waiting Marie ABBATUCCI, with her lover Claudius POPELIN. "With my absolute ideas on these things, I have advised radical solutions which are not accepted and to which time and logic will compel those concerned. For the moment, much recrimination on both sides, much crying, sleeplessness, discouragement, despair in the person we love, you and I. The other came. We saw each other; we did not explain ourselves completely. The third person was sent away by the Rue de Berri [Mathilde]; but the Rue de Berri would prefer it to be by the Rue de Téhéran [Popelin]. All this is very sad, although the gallery is amused by it"... Marly le roi: if he did not come to Dumas' house in
Puits, "it is because you did not want to come, then that you went to England and that usually you made this journey by Dieppe".
Then he went to Venice, and Dumas learns now that he has returned to Rome: "in spite of your infidelities, I still love you. That was too long ago"... As for the manuscript of MUSSET that he had given him, Dumas is ready to take it back, "since you don't like it anymore", but he doesn't remember the price... Etc.
We enclose 2 L.A.S. to various people, including a beautiful letter of advice after reading the play of a friend; and a L.A.S. from his sister Marie.
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