CLAUDEL Paul Lot n° 24

CLAUDEL Paul AN EXCEPTIONAL OCTAVE MIRBEAU COPY ON HOLLANDE CONTAINING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TWO UNPUBLISHED AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED BY CAMILLE CLAUDEL La Ville Paris, Librairie de l'Art Indépendant, 1893 In-8°. Full red mosaic broad-grained morocco (Marius Michel). Spine with 4 wide nerves decorated with fine green morocco mosaic bands running the length of the spine, surrounded by a gilt fillet, forming a set of three small squares at the head and tail. Boards richly decorated with the same mosaic green morocco crossbands running from the four corners to form dizzying acanthus leaves surmounted by 4 stylized heart-shaped flowers in chocolate and mustard morocco mosaic, all surrounded by gilded fillets. Large-grained green morocco linings decorated with a mosaic of bamboo stalks in red morocco, with knotted foliage at each corner. Garde de moire rouge. Double marbled paper endpaper in mauve and pink camaïeu. Covers and spine cons. All edges gilt. Red morocco flap folder and red morocco slipcase (slight rubbing to slipcase). Very fresh inside. First edition published without author's name. 1/25 copies on Hollande (n°2). Copy of Octave Mirbeau with signed autograph dispatch: "À M. Octave Mirbeau, hommage de l'auteur. P. Claudel". This copy is enriched with 3 signed autograph letters, including 2 previously unpublished, from Camille Claudel, and a drawing, mounted on tabs, as follows: - Autograph letter signed by Paul Claudel [to Octave Mirbeau (and not to Auguste Rodin, as a later pencil note erroneously indicates)] written from New York, dated June 8, 1893. 3 pp. handwritten on double leaf in-12°. The author begins by apologizing, no doubt in reference to the publication of Mirbeau's article "Ceux du Champ-de-Mars" in May 1893 in "Le Journal: supplément illustré du Salon 1893", in which the latter praises Paul's genius and Camille Claudel's talent: "Excuse me for not thanking you for the nice things you said about my sister and me. Why not confess that I felt a great pleasure, separated as I am from the words and eyes of my friends by the sea as by an abstract distance? I readily acknowledge the accuracy of your criticisms of these books [namely, "Tête d'or" and "La Ville"], products of an irritated and suffering mind. I hope to be able to write with greater security and strength". He then goes on to give a highly impressionistic description of the city of New York, which he discovered as a vice-consul, his first diplomatic post abroad: "New York is a place I'm beginning to find interesting. [...] It's a vast barracks annexed to a landing pier and a business district. But the environment is very diverse and very lively. There's the lower port, with its basements that smell of ripe fruit and old sackcloth; there's the German quarter; the Negro streets ending in red sky; an extraordinary Italian street; a Chinese street with a Chinese theater that makes my day; a Jewish quarter where you can find theaters that play [...] The Enchanted Ring and King Lear, in Hebrew!". Once again, he thanks Mirbeau for his sister and himself: "I'm grateful to you even more for my sister than for me; she has an admirable quality of imagination. And so I thank you doubly. He ends his letter with a word about Maurice Maeterlinck: "I heard that Maeterlinck had Pelléas et Mélisande performed. I hope it will have had the success it deserves". A magnificent letter! To access the full description, click on the link below.