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Leducq Maison de Ventes aux enchères
100
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Marie Alexandrine DUMAS. Collection of autographs and books.
See original version (French)
100
-
Marie Alexandrine DUMAS. Collection of autographs and books.
See original version (French)
Estimate €200 - €300
Voluntary lot
Description
Marie Alexandrine DUMAS. Collection of autographs and books.
- Letter from the author to a ‘dear friend’. She asks him to help one of her protégés. 1 p. in-12
- Letter from the author to a friend. 16 July 1865. 107 Boulevard Malesherbes. 4 pp. in-8. She is breathless from the errands she has been running for several months ‘either alone, or with my dear papa, who has been causing us great anxiety for the past eight days; he is only just emerging from the iron grip of acute nephritis… I am doing my best to prepare the house to shield him from the rough edges and show him only the roses… I am fortunate to be settled in and to have a long period of rest ahead of me; in another month, the arrangements—which are taking shape day by day—will be as comfortable as possible… I have not written to Mrs Flahaut either; I shall do so… ’
- Letter to a woman. 8 March 1869. 107 Boulevard Malesherbes. 4 pp. in-12. ‘If I were not reaching out to you, I would tell you, Madam, that you are as wicked as you are witty, kind and beautiful… Alas, I do not visit anyone… I do not have a single minute to myself with the dear father you know. My work, his work, and obligations of all kinds turn my poor existence into a perpetual plunder where everyone takes what belongs to them or what does not belong to them…’
- Letter from the author. 23 January 1872. 2 pp. in-8. She hopes to see him, either alone or accompanied ‘by the lovely person you wish to introduce to me…’
- Letter to Mr Giraud at the Chemin de Fer de l’Est. 2 pp. in-12, envelope. ‘ I am writing on behalf of my father, who is already so indebted to you, to ask you to do everything possible—even the impossible—to fulfil the wishes of the charming and most interesting person I am sending to you…’
- Letter to a friend. 18 September 1868. 2 pp. ½ in-8. ‘You see that, from father to daughter, we are looking after you and your achievements… So please do send me a quick note to let me know, so that I can send my dear papa what he is asking for… a book of his, already in press. Let’s make haste, as we want it to be published in October.
- Autograph note to Peragallo. “Send us a few sous whilst we wait for some to arrive from Vienna. Yours ever.”
- Letter to Paul Féval, President of the Société des Gens de Lettres, 9 March 1867. 1 p. in-4. She asks him to send to the Duke of Gramont, French Ambassador to Vienna, the document appointing Charles Spina as the Representative and Defender of the interests of men of letters in Austria, together with a copy of the treaties concluded with Italy, Spain, etc. Alexandre Dumas added ‘with a thousand warm regards to you, my dear Paul’.
- 2 letters to Alphonse Lebègue. – 27 March 1873. 2 pp. in-8. She asks him to obtain for her a book published in Brussels, *Le dernier des Napoléons*, which she absolutely needs. – [12 April 1873]. 2 pp., in-8. She has just arrived in Brussels and would be delighted to see him again.
- Marie Alexandre DUMAS. *Au lit de mort*. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1867.
8vo, red half-shagreen with corner caps, double gilt bands on the covers, decorated ribbed spine.
[2 ff.], 322 pp. First edition.
A book ‘which caused quite a stir and in which critics have identified a sort of autobiography of the author’ (Vapereau). The critic from *Le Figaro*, whilst not concealing the work’s flaws, concluded that the author ‘has pedigree; through her flaws and her qualities, one senses her to be the daughter of *Antony* and the sister of *La Dame aux camélias*’. Noting her ‘singular Catholicism’, he nevertheless advised her to renounce mysticism…
A fine copy, well bound. A few rare foxing spots.
- Marie Alexandre DUMAS. Le Mari de madame Benoit. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1869.
In-12, green half-shagreen, spine with faded faux-ribbing decorated with gilt fillets.
[1 f.], 346 pp. First edition.
Also included:
Micaëlla Clélie CORDIER. Autograph letter signed to Mr E. de la Charlotterie. 9 March 1910. 4 pp. in-8, envelope.
Regarding an article published in *Comœdia* in which she had read all that he had done ‘for my dear elder brother Alexandre. I blessed you for it, for I loved him dearly, having transferred to him the adoration I felt for my dear little Father… You are right; you are my elder brother’s only true godson. He may have had others, being a man of great standing; but you were almost like a son to him, for… he did not seem happy with his daughters. ”
An illegitimate son of Dumas the Elder: Henry Bauër and his son Gérard
He was born in 1851 from Dumas’s affair with Anna Herzer, wife of Bauër. Yet another illegitimate child, raised by his mother alone without Dumas taking any interest, but bearing a striking resemblance to him.
He would take up the cause of the Commune and become an influential journalist.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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