FR EN
several pieces of paper with writing on them sitting next to each other
Ader

351 - Sibylle-Gabrielle-Marie-Antoinette de Riquetti de Mirabeau, …
See original version (French)

Estimate €800 - €1,000
Sale commission
Description
Sibylle-Gabrielle-Marie-Antoinette de Riquetti de Mirabeau, Countess of Martel, known as GYP (1849–1932). 30 letters (L.A.S. or L.A.), 1905–1907, to Count Gabriel de Vulpillières (one to the Countess); approximately 320 pages, mostly in-8, with numerous envelopes. An intriguing collection of letters concerning legal proceedings against her mother and her partner. [Countess Marie de Mirabeau, née Le Harivel de Gonneville (1827–1914), who separated very early on from her husband Arundel de Riquetti de Mirabeau, grand-nephew of the great Mirabeau, and became a widow in 1860, led from then on a very free and worldly life, which her daughter disapproved of.] We can offer only a glimpse of these lengthy letters, written (with one exception) in violet ink in her large hand, on blue paper or ‘petit deuil’ paper, most of them signed ‘Mirabeau Martel’. She took legal action against her mother and Alexandre Nouserand; the hearing was adjourned. She made enquiries in Cossesseville: her mother had tried to have her groom, Alexandre, appointed as a guard, but as he had been convicted, he could not be sworn in; he is now a cashier… She must go and speak to her mother: ‘It’s the first time I’ll see her again’… She warns Vulpillières about her mother. As an insurance inspector, Vulpillières cannot keep Alexandre, a ‘convicted felon’, in his company. Alexandre’s case is due to go to appeal: “They’re going to portray Alexandre as a victim of Gyp”… She no longer exists for her mother, who is “utterly spellbound by this scoundrel […] nothing can stand up to the convicted felon who is living with her”. His criminal record is extensive: ‘three confirmed convictions, not to mention what we don’t know’; he is ‘notoriously a dangerous alcoholic’. His mother “will be forced to leave every hotel, every flat, every place she goes to, accompanied by this alcoholic scoundrel. All this saddens me enormously. But I can’t force my mother to come and live with me. And Alexandre has made me loathe her’… She mentions his novel *Cloclo*; her mother ‘wrote a novel in response to *Cloclo* and said she’d included my grandfather and grandmother in it. So I wrote her a note to warn her that if she said anything against anyone other than me, she’d hear from me in a *Cloclo* that’s more transparent this time. It’s true, she can do whatever she likes to me and I couldn’t care less, but I don’t want her to use my grandfather, who, if he were alive, would crush Alexandre and her along with him. ‘It seems that Alexandre is definitely being prosecuted in the criminal court for knocking out the caretaker’… Alexandre is resorting to blackmail and defamation, parading around newspaper offices ‘a volume of *Cloclo* annotated by my mother; a list of accusations, also in my mother’s handwriting, claiming that I don’t pay my servants, my suppliers, etc… (fortunately, these are false!) and finally a bundle of letters from me which he is demanding be published to take revenge on Cloclo. These letters are confidential letters written by me to my mother, who is offering to pay a great deal for them to be published”… Etc. Enclosed is a letter in the author’s own hand from the Count of Martel, dated 30 October 1905, thanking the Count of Vulpillières for the hospitality shown to his son Thierry (3 pp., in-8, with envelope).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
Auction location
Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like