CELINE LOUIS-FERDINAND (1894-1961)

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Lot n° 348
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Estimation :
100000 - 150000 EUR
CELINE LOUIS-FERDINAND (1894-1961)
Normance, Féerie pour une autre fois II, autograph manuscript spring 1954. 10 volumes, large in-4, 1394 pages, leaves mounted on tabs and pasted on cream vellum leaves, under serpents. Uniform binding not signed by Loutrel. Half black morocco with corners. Spine with 5 nerves, underlined by cold fi lets. Author, title and tomaisons in gilt letters. Red and black creative paper boards by Claude Braun's workshop. Lining and endpapers of another creative paper by the same workshop. Cases lined with black morocco and decorated with the same paper as the one used for the covers of the volumes. Final manuscript, but still presenting some variants compared to the published version, of "Normance", the second volume of "Féerie pour une autre fois". The novel that Céline devoted most of his time to during the most difficult years of his life. Féerie pour une autre fois II, Normance, autograph manuscript of 1394 pages with 9300 corrections in the author's hand. Bound by Loutrel in 10 large volumes, [Spring 1954] Vol. 1: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 ff. cream vellum. Autograph numbering 1-130. 145 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 50 additions and 315 crossings out in the author's hand. Vol. 2: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 131-271. 415 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 205 additions and 220 crossings out in the author's hand. Vol. 3: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 272-411. 365 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 110 additions and 215 cross-outs in the author's hand. Vol. 4: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 cream wove paper. Autograph numbering 412-544. 355 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 105 additions and 285 cross-outs in the author's hand. Vol. 5: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 ff. of cream wove paper. Autograph numbering 545-666. 260 words or groups of words struck out and corrected, 95 additions and 60 strikeouts in the author's hand. Vol. 6: 140 pp. in-4 on 140 ff. of cream wove paper. Autograph numbering 667-777. 295 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 135 additions and 150 cross-outs in the author's hand. Vol. 7: 141 pp. in-4 on 141 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 778-878bis. 425 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 195 additions and 245 cross-outs in the author's hand. Vol. 8: 139 pp. in-4 on 139 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 879-986. 1535 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 555 additions and 515 crossings out in the author's hand. Vol. 9: 139 pp. in-4 on 139 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 987-1057ter. 825 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 280 additions and 230 cross-outs in the author's hand. Vol. 10: 133 pp. in-4 on 133 ff. of cream vellum. Autograph numbering 10574-11007. 530 words or groups of words crossed out and corrected, 280 additions and 110 crossings out in the author's hand. The following pages are grouped on one sheet: 223-224 (vol.1); 274-275 (vol.2); 593-594 (vol.5); 668-669 (vol.6). It is in letters written from Denmark, in September 1945, to his secretary in France, Marie Canavaggia, that we understand what Céline's initial intention was, when he undertook the writing of the thousands of pages that were to result seven and nine years later in the two volumes of Féerie pour une fois. He was talking about a "little memoir" that he intended to support his defense in the treason trial that had been underway against him in absentia since April. The last sentence of Normance: "These are the facts, exactly..." illustrates this idea well. Normance is the testimony of the last days spent in the Montmarte district of Paris, before his flight to Germany, mixed with memories, evocations of an interminable night of bombardment in the company of his wife, his animals and neighbours, including Normance, a strong man from Les Halles. Normance follows Féerie pour une autre fois published by Gallimard in 1952. Normance will still be published by Gallimard in 1954. Exceptional.
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