Leducq Maison de Ventes aux enchères
26
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Alexandre DUMAS – Controversy with Émile Barrault.
See original version (French)
26
-
Alexandre DUMAS – Controversy with Émile Barrault.
See original version (French)
Estimate €80 - €120
Voluntary lot
Description
Alexandre DUMAS – Controversy with Émile Barrault. 4 documents.
- Alexandre DUMAS. To Mr Émile Barrault, regarding his letter to Mr Lamartine.
Paris: Au Bureau de la France Nouvelle, undated [1848].
Folio-sized poster (45 x 32 cm), double-sided (2 pp.). First edition of this politically controversial text addressed to one of the leading figures of Saint-Simonism, an unsuccessful candidate in the legislative elections of March 1848 in the department of the Seine. Centre fold, two brown stains.
- LOUVET. To Mr Alexandre Dumas regarding his letter to Mr Émile Barrault. Paris, Alexandre Pierre, undated [1848].
Folio-sized poster, 44.5 x 31 cm. Short right-hand margin with one letter missing from each line. Printed on the front.
- A bear’s reply to Mr Alex. Dumas. Paris, Alexandre Pierre, undated [1848]. Folio, 44.8 x 31.8 cm. Printed on the front, wood engraving. Signed ‘Bertin the Bear’.
- A pig’s reply to Mr Alex Dumas. Paris, Alexandre Pierre, undated [1848]. Folio, 44.8 x 31 cm. Printed on the front, wood engraving. Signed ‘The pig, without restraint’.
These are interesting texts which provide insight into Dumas’s republican sentiments following the February Revolution. His letter to Barrault uses the criticisms the latter had levelled at Lamartine as a pretext for his own critique of Saint-Simon – “neither a prophet, nor a revelator, nor a messiah, Saint-Simon is a dreamer ” – and of Saint-Simonism. A sharp and witty critique, as Dumas cannot help but be Dumas even in a text of political polemic. Take, for instance, the account of the meeting between Saint-Simon – who proclaimed himself ‘the most extraordinary man in the world’ – and Germaine de Staël, ‘the most extraordinary woman in the world’, when he declared to her: ‘The two of us would certainly make a child more extraordinary than either of us: does that suit you […] Instead of realising she was dealing with a god, Madame de Staël thought she was dealing with a madman; she refused.’ ’ He then goes on to criticise Saint-Simonian doctrine. Dismissing the pseudo-religious jumble out of hand, he attacks the social order which ‘is no longer, today, a match for the events in which we find ourselves.’
The three replies are addressed to the Marquis de La Pailleterie (the name of Dumas’s grandfather) and cast doubt on Dumas’s republicanism, highlighting his ties to the House of Orléans (forgetting that he had broken with Louis-Philippe as early as 1830).
A very rare set.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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