DAUDET Alphonse (1840-1897).

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Lot n° 44
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5000 - 6000 EUR
DAUDET Alphonse (1840-1897).
Autograph notebook, Sapho, [1883]; notebook in-8, 184 pages (14 x 9.5 cm); original blue cloth spine binding; green morocco case in the shape of a book. Precious notebook, witness to the genesis of the novel Sapho. Sapho, mœurs parisiennes, written in 1883, published in L'Écho de Paris, appeared in volume with Charpentier in 1884. It is known that Daudet transposed his own youth and his long and stormy affair with Marie Rieu. The notebook bears the label of the Papeterie de l'Odéon, Chelu. The first page shows Daudet's hesitation in finding a title for his "Parisian novel": Thaïs, Léda, Psyché, Salomé, Le faune, La faunesse are all considered; but the famous dedication can already be read: "For my sons when they are twenty years old. On the same page, Daudet wrote this autograph letter: "To my dear Henry Céard Sapho's embryo Alph. Daudet". This term "embryo" is not used at random. It is the whole gestation of the novel that comes alive in these pages, from the brief notes to the beginning of the writing. A first draft manuscript, abundantly crossed out and corrected, the notebook is in fact a first version, a very detailed - and sometimes already written - outline of the XV chapters of the novel, generally on the right-hand page; while on the facing page, Daudet notes developments, additional ideas, sentences, episodes to be added, lines, etc.; for example: "Letters that Sapho writes to him, she speaks of the moral good that he has done her. Better, more honest. He, on the contrary, took his evil" (in the margin of chap. VI); or: "This half-separation sharpens the glue. piquant desire of Sunday. Sometimes in the evening he goes there. The little salon. Whist. Music. Fanny's good manner, which amuses. Sets the tone for the whole world. The Peruvian: "A great deal of fun." - There he goes. stars above the triumphal arch, is part of the Parisian lighting" (in the margin of chap. VII). The first pages show Daudet's hesitations as to the name of his hero: Jean Jourdan, Gastier, Gosselin, and finally Gaussin; as to his activity: student at the Ecole des Chartes or student-consul. Similarly, Sapho (chap. III) is called Marie Masson, the name of Masson being overwritten by that of Legrand; it is only much later that the first name of Marie (too close to reality) will be replaced by that of Fanny. On the first endpaper are notes on Jean's family Gosselin-Gaussin; further on, accounts of the ages of the main characters; lists of names; ideas or sketches of various episodes; lines; the draft of Fanny's farewell letter which concludes the novel, etc. Note that the last chapters bear titles that were later abandoned: XIV La rechûte, XV Le rendez-vous. PROVENANCE Former collections of Louis BARTHOU (bookplate; II, no. 1031) and Gérard de BERNY (bookplate; I, no. 95); Daniel SICKLES (I, 51).
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