GOURMONT Remy de (1858-1915). - Lot 104

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  3. GOURMONT Remy de (1858-1915). - Lot 104
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Lot n° 104
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GOURMONT Remy de (1858-1915). - Lot 104
GOURMONT Remy de (1858-1915). AUTOGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT, Les Chevaux de Diomède, [1897]; 266 ff. in-8 (22 x 14 cm) mounted on tabs and bound in an in-8 volume, tan morocco, interlaced decoration of diamond-shaped gilt fillets on the boards, ribbed spine with similar decoration, brown box lining and endpapers, gilt edges on witnesses, lined folder and case (P.-L. Martin). Complete manuscript of the novel, with copy n° 1 on japon, in uniform bindings. The manuscript, of Gourmont's elegant graphic design, in violet ink on the front of bifeuillets of beautiful laid paper, presents numerous erasures and corrections; the chapter titles and their epigraphs in particular have undergone modifications: thus chapter XV, entitled "Les dentelles", then "Un soir" and "Le soir", before finding its final title "Le Songe". Paginated in blue pencil, this manuscript was used for printing in the Mercure de France in April and May 1897, before its publication in volume at the Mercure de France, dedicated to Paul Adam, and preceded by a short preface where Gourmont declares: "One will find in this book, which is a small novel of possible adventures, the thought, the act, the dream, the sensuality exposed on the same level and analyzed with a similar good will. It is that, decidedly, the man is a whole where the analysis finds badly the ancient duality of the soul and the body ". The hero of this sensual novel is Diomède, "a dilettante who tastes delicate pleasures. He is not devoid of tenderness, but at the same time, he dreads the great passion and all that touches it. Seduced by Néobelle and her freshness as an emancipated young girl, he initiates her into love, but feels humiliated by the way she ultimately thwarts his plans" (Karl D. Uitti, La passion littéraire de Remy de Gourmont, p. 173). In the last lines of the novel, Diomède, having learned the marriage of Néobelle, curses the intellect which had attracted the young girl to him: " Be cursed, Pansy, creator of all, but murderous creator, clumsy mother who has never given birth to anything but beings whose shoulders are the stool of chance and whose eyes are the laughing stock of life ". The first edition is enclosed: Les Chevaux de Diomède (Paris, Société du Mercure de France, 1897), in-8, rel. maroquin havane, decoration with interlacing of gilded nets in rhombus on the plates, lining and guards of red moire, gilded edges on witnesses, covers and back kept (Semet & Plumelle). One of the 3 first copies on imperial japan (n°1), with full margins (only 18 copies were printed on large paper). Provenance: Charles Hayoit (bookplate, 3rd sale, November 29, 2001, nos. 474 and 475).
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