BRETON André (1896-1966).

Lot 16
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
BRETON André (1896-1966).
MANUSCRIT autograph signed "André Breton", LES ÉTATS GÉNÉRAUX, 1943; title and 6 leaves in-4 (21.5 x 27.9 cm) written on the front, all mounted on tabs, and bound: Bradel-style midnight blue morocco spine with title in large white œser letters, and author's name, place and date in gilt letters, transparent plexiglass boards, painted on the former with a vertical gradated sky-blue band along the inner edge and, on the latter, laminated with a map of the same solid hue, slipcase lined (Mercher, 1966). One of Breton's large poems with rubbings, in an original plastic layout. This large poem is dated on the title page "New York October 1943"; this title page, on heavy wove paper, bears the author's name and indication of place and date in ink, and the title in rubbing of block letters in blue pencil. The poem is carefully written out in black ink on six pencilled sheets, with a rubbing of capital letters in different colours (green, purple, black, black, orange, black) on each page, forming the phrase, like a counterpoint that runs through the poem: "there will be / always / a shovel / in the wind / in the sand / of the dream". The manuscript contains a single correction and an interlinear addition on page 6. The great poem Les États Généraux was published in the collection Poèmes (Paris, N.R.F., 1948); the sentence formed by the rubbings is printed in italics. While staying with his friends Jacqueline and David Hare on Long Island, in the company of Charles Duits, Breton composed Les États Généraux as a prayer or an act of faith in the star that lights up the world, Esclarmonde: "Once and for all poetry must rise from the ruins / In the finery and glory of Esclarmonde"... Binding in perfect harmony with Breton's handwritten poem.
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