BAUDELAIRE Charles (1821-1867)

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Lot n° 328
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BAUDELAIRE Charles (1821-1867)
Corrected proof of the poem from Les Fleurs du mal : Les petites vieilles, dedicated to Victor Hugo, for Eugène Crépet's Anthologie des Poètes . Undated (probably 1862). 7 stanzas of 28 verses printed on one page in-8, 209 x 124 mm, with 12 autograph corrections as well as 4 lines of additions crossed out later, in Baudelaire's hand. On the upper border are printed the page number "606" as well as the running title of the chapter of the Anthology of French Poets: "Dix-neuvième siècle". Various inscriptions by other hands appear on this proof. 1) contemporary inscriptions: - in brown ink in the upper left-hand corner: "notice / Jules Lefebvre?" this is probably the painter Jules Lefebvre (1836-1911). 2) later inscription: - In graphite, on three lines on the left margin: "Corrected proof by Baudelaire / of one of the pieces inserted in the Poètes français publiés / par Eugène Crépet." Very good condition despite slight creasing and a few small edge snags (splits, various marks). Very rare corrected proof of one of the most important poems of Fleurs du mal. It was intended for the anthology Les Poètes français, by Eugène Crépet (1862). The poem Les petites vieilles, originally published in the Revue contemporaine on September 15, 1859, was later included in the second edition of Les Fleurs du mal in 1861 (exhibit XCI). Baudelaire also included it in 1862 in the anthology of French poets edited by Eugène Crépet (and reissued in 1863), in the fourth volume devoted to contemporaries. The present corrected proof represents 7 of the 9 stanzas of the first part of Les Petites Vieilles (which comprises a total of 4 parts of 21 stanzas). All the corrections to this proof are listed by Claude Pichois. "In the most sinuous of the old capitals, Where everything, even horror, turns to enchantment, I watch, obeying my fatal moods, Singular, decrepit and charming beings. These dislocated monsters were once women, Eponine or Laïs! Broken, humpbacked monsters Or twisted, let us love them! They are still souls. [Baudelaire has here corrected "aimez" to "aimons", and the final comma of the verse to a full stop, with the indication in the margin in full: "un point"] Under petticoats with holes in them and under cold cloths, [Baudelaire has corrected the final full stop to a comma] They crawl, flogged by the iniquitous bises, Trembling at the rolling din of the omnibuses, And clutching their flanks, as if they were relics, [Baudelaire has crossed out the "s" in "their flanks"] A little bag embroidered with flowers or rebus ;"[Baudelaire has here deleted and then restored the semicolon by adding a footnote sign where he has written and then crossed out the following note occupying four lines (with 2 illegible deleted words): "The ridicule, or reticule, was / often adorned with rebus, of a / gallant nature, as is proved / by the old engravings of Modes.»] (...) Baudelaire inscribed two more corrections, including a capital "M" for "la Mort savante" in the sixth stanza. This very rare corrected proof, surely the only one to bear variants and modifications in Baudelaire's hand, was reproduced several times; first in the Special Issue devoted to Charles Baudelaire of the Autograph Manuscript (1927, p. 32; the reproduction has erased the annotation in black pencil by Jacques Crépet (?) as well as the one in blue pencil); then in the Album Baudelaire de la Pléiade, p. 198 (this last reproduction was made from the previous one). PROVENANCE Former Armand Godoy collection. REFERENCES C. Baudelaire, OEuvres complètes, La Pléiade, 1990, pp. 89-90 (and notes pp. 1014-1018). Autograph manuscript, Special issue devoted to Charles Baudelaire (1927, p. 32). Album Baudelaire, La Pléiade, p. 198. Marcel Proust, Contre Sainte-Beuve, La Pléiade, pp. 250-252.
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