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108 - RACINE (Jean). Autograph manuscript signed in Latin. Nobilis…
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Estimate €40,000 - €50,000
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RACINE (Jean). Autograph manuscript signed in Latin. Nobilissimo illustrissimoque Domino D. Arnaldo d'Andilly. Elegia soterica [To the most noble and illustrious lord Monsieur Arnauld d'Andilly. On his convalescence. Elegy], s.d. [ca. 1655-1657]. 2 pp. in-4 on a bifeuillet of watermarked paper with three rings, with an old handwritten note attached concerning the present autograph (1 f. in-12), all mounted in a volume in-4, brown morocco, cold-stamped fillets with gilt dots at the corners, gilt title on the first board, titled smooth spine, grey-brown suede lining and endpapers, edged slipcase (Loutrel). A very valuable work in verse by Jean Racine composed at Port-Royal. An autograph manuscript of legendary rarity. Almost all of the tragedian's papers are currently held by the BnF, following successive donations made by his family, from his son Louis Racine in 1756 to his descendants Jacobé de Naurois: these consist mainly of the Abrégé de l'histoire de Port-Royal, early manuscripts (correspondence, historical essays, translations and copies of classical authors), and annotated printed books. None of the manuscripts of his plays have survived. One of his very first literary essays, written when he was about sixteen: it was during the years 1655 to 1657 that Jean Racine, a talented pupil at the Petites écoles de Port-Royal, tried his hand at writing for the first time, in Latin (as here) and in French (as in his odes on Port-Royal and in his notes to Antoine Vitart). The spelling of Racine's present manuscript is identical to that of the extracts from Tacitus copied by him in 1656 (BnF, ms. fr. 12888). Before the discovery of this elegy, seven of Racine's Latin poems were known from copies. The interest of these pieces was highlighted by Paul Mesnard, the first scientific editor of Racine's works, in 1865: "they show the extent to which Racine was already familiar with the ancient Latin poets, and give an idea of the direction of studies at Port-Royal". Robert Arnauld d'Andilly (1589-1674), the recipient of Racine's first known letter, dated 27 December 1657, met the young Racine at Port-Royal, where he encouraged him to persevere in poetry. The son of the lawyer Antoine Arnauld, he had initially pursued a career in the upper echelons of the financial administration, but the loss of his political illusions and a series of bereavements led him to retire. Arnauld d'Andilly had close ties with Port-Royal and was close to the abbot of Saint-Cyran. Several members of his family lived at the abbey, and he too chose to retire there in 1645. An early poem written at Port-Royal. An orphan with no means of support, Racine was brought up in Port-Royal, where several members of his family had retired, including his grandmother and an aunt (the future abbess of the abbey). He lived at the Petites écoles de Port-Royal, then at the Granges de Port-Royal des Champs, at the Château de Vaumurier with the Duc de Luynes and probably also at the Château des Troux with the Dugué de Bagnols family. This Elegy plays on the metaphor of the port as a haven. In his Abrégé de l'histoire de Port-Royal, Racine refers to the "Messieurs de Port-Royal": the theologian and polemicist Pierre Nicole, the grammarian and Hellenist Claude Lancelot, the former lawyer Antoine Le Maître and the doctor Jean Hamon. They were "the best teachers of the 17th century... and offered him the most solid Greco-Latin culture available at the time", wrote Georges Forestier. Subsequently, Racine turned to literature, achieving his first success in 1660, and led a free life far removed from the principles of his former masters. He broke openly with Port-Royal in 1666-1667, during the "Querelle des Imaginaires". Reconciliation came in 1677-1678, when Racine underwent a veritable social and literary conversion, writing Esther and Athalie in a marked Jansenist spirit, hymns for Le Bréviaire romain by Le Tourneux, a poem in honour of the great Arnauld, and working on an Abrégé de l'Histoire de Port-Royal. He asked to be buried at Port-Royal des Champs. The text has been published from the present manuscript in Jean Racine, Correspondance, ed. Jean Lesaulnier, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2017, pp. 660-662, with a French translation by Pierre Gheno (translation available on request).
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About the sale Antiquarian books from the 15th to the 19th century - Astronomy
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Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
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