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Jeannine DUMAS d’HAUTERIVE. Approximately 130 autograph, sig…
See original version (French)
177
-
Jeannine DUMAS d’HAUTERIVE. Approximately 130 autograph, sig…
See original version (French)
Estimate €800 - €1,200
Voluntary lot
Description
Jeannine DUMAS d’HAUTERIVE. Approximately 130 autograph, signed letters to Émile de la Charlotterie. 1872–1906. Approximately 300 pp. in-16, in-12 and in-8, envelopes.
Ernest d’HAUTERIVE. Approximately 75 signed autograph letters to Émile de la Charlotterie. 1889–1909. Approximately 220 pp. in-12 and in-8
Beginning in his childhood, this correspondence continued actively for nearly thirty years. Intimate and affectionate, it demonstrates the importance of Dumas fils’s godson in family life and the role he played within it. Jeannine, adopting Dumas the Younger’s style, refers to Émile only as ‘my dear Bébé’, ‘my dear son’, ‘my beloved son’, ‘my old son’, ‘my old child’, etc. She signs off herself as ‘your mother’, ‘your little mum’, and later ‘Jeannot’.
- Photographic portrait, cabinet size (Gasc photograph, Dieppe) bearing this touching dedication to Émile de La Charlotterie: ‘To my darling son, from his little mum Jeannine’.
Jeannine: - 2 June 1872: “My dear Émile, I love you very much, I’m thinking of you often, and I send my love to your little mum.” – undated: “Thank you very much for the lovely toys you sent me; you’ve shown very good taste… Colette is still a little mad; she’s swimming at the end of a rope. As for me, I want to go for a ride on a donkey. I can gallop very well.” – 9 July 1877: “Mum sends you all her best wishes and Colette sends you a little kick. ” – 20 July 1877: “I only have time to kiss you 890367341261341/0890 times. ” – 24 June 1878: “When you come to visit us, would you be so kind as to check whether four copies of *Manon Lescaut* have arrived from London…” – 11 September 1879: ‘I’m absolutely appalled that you’d go to the theatre with a lady of high society – I know this, for I have my own intelligence network, and it’s a good one… We’ve had no news of either Papa or the Flahauts, so we don’t know what’s become of them. ” – 14 November 1882, Châtillon-sur-Loing: “Here, the main pastimes for gentlemen are hunting, but for ladies it’s entertaining these gentlemen. On Thursday there’s supposed to be a driven hunt with Marshal Mac-Mahon or the President. Well, you’ll see that I won’t be any prouder when I return to the capital.” – 14 August 1888: “Mum has just told me that Mr E. de la ‘Cochonnerie’ (sic) is arriving on Saturday. Don’t be offended, for it slips out quite unintentionally with her, you know… you are still my only son. Don’t say ‘my eunuch son’. – 24 December 1888: ‘Coming back to Colette, I think you can easily get it into your head that she’s always lying… She’s put me through all sorts of trouble… I’ve only ever been against her once – it was her divorce that I thought was a daft idea… The only one she didn’t let go of was Dad because he was the strongest. And because the galette is close to her heart… I’m lucky enough to have a perfect husband and a perfectly kind in-law family. – 29 July 1891: ‘Apparently Dad was very surprised that I came to Le Puys… as Dad wasn’t due to come to Le Puys this summer, it was only natural for me to stay with friends of twenty years, who are beyond reproach, rather than settle down on my own in some random hotel… Anyway, it seems that everything I do is wrong, even things that seem so natural to us and to everyone else! It also seems that anyone who dares to speak in my favour immediately falls out with me… ’ – 13 March 1892: ‘Having seen in the newspapers that Papa was selling the Avenue de Villiers, I would be grateful if you could be so kind as to ensure that the Chinese drawing room, which was designed by Basire, is not sold as well. Papa will probably pay little attention to this, and it would be natural for the panels to be sold along with the mansion… I needn’t tell you how distressed I am at not even being able to write to Papa…’ – 15 March 1892: “You must have heard from Papa about our happy reconciliation. But I want to tell you myself how happy I am, and Ernest too. Throughout this sad year, you have been so kind and so frank about this sad affair that I want you to be certain of our gratitude… ” – 25 June 1895: “We’re all feeling a bit down, aren’t we? And I think this is the time to stick together. And to remind ourselves that we care for one another.” – 5 February 1896: “There won’t be a second sale, and I’m drawing up a list of what I’m taking back – the ladies too – which is why, apart from the items they’ve asked for back, you’ll see what else you want and I’ll add it in my head and on paper to complete my list… You know it’s Lolotte who has Puys. I hope she’s happy with it. ” – 23 April 1896: “I’m writing to ask you a favour. Would you be so kind as to go to Mr Sardou’s on my behalf and give him the answer he is expecting—which, unfortunately, is what it must be, namely ‘No’…”. She asks him to tell ‘Mr Sardou how deeply moved I was and how grateful I am for everything he wishes to do in memory and honour of Papa…’ – 20 August 1896: “If you go to Le Puys, tell my lovely family that I am still alive. Let them not regret it too much – they won’t be inheriting anything!!!” – October 1896: “I might have a rather good idea. It’s to have one side of the fan painted… depicting my banknote scene. Painted by Mrs Maximilienne Guyon… And the other side – camellia flowers – by Mrs Lemaire? I don’t think either of them will take offence; besides, it’ll be easy to say that Sarah wants something from both artists… It’ll cost me another 1,000 note, but I don’t care… because, like you, I want it to be absolutely perfect… Can you get Sarah’s number for me? – 20 September 1897: ‘Colette’s wedding really doesn’t fill me with joy!!! I thought you might be asked to be a witness. Ernest has declined this honour… ” – November 1903: “I’d really like to know what Réjane has decided? Not just out of curiosity but out of necessity – would you mind seeing her and asking her… it’s important for our business… I’d so love for this great artist to have yet another triumph with one of Papa’s plays – and especially this one, which is mine…’ – October 1904. Jeannine never gets a part at the Comédie-Française, not even in her father’s plays. ‘That’s no reason why, just because I’m discreet, I should never be given a part’ – 19 June 1905: ‘Jac seems put off by Colette’s silence – I admire your wife, with her youthful sensibilities! As for me, I’ve become more placid than ‘the late Placide himself’… Do you know poor Aubernon’s nickname: ‘The Tower of Breasts’ – isn’t that lovely!”
Ernest: – 20 July 1891: ‘Mr Dumas is still stubborn. Let’s wait and see; one day or another he’ll surely come to realise that we love him… he’s wary of us at the moment because a woman—who has every interest in falling out with everyone…—has turned him against us. It’s not hard to see through Mrs Escalier’s game… So far she’s been quite successful… But for how long? I hope it lasts as little as possible, and I hope this even more for Mr Dumas than for us… It pains me greatly to see a man like him… end up in this state. ’ – 9 June 1893: ‘I’m writing to ask if you might pop into the Lemerre bookshop one of these days and try to find out the name of that interesting character who signs her work sometimes as Lippmann, sometimes as Janine…’ – 27 November 1894: “Jeannine is finally arriving this evening. Her mother’s illness delayed her departure. I even thought that this time poor Nadine might not make it. That woman’s temperament is extraordinary.” – 8 April 1895: ‘You will have heard the details of our meeting with Mr Dumas. I hope that this time the reconciliation will last. For our part, we are determined to do everything we can to ensure this, and we are clearly demonstrating this through the concessions we have made – concessions we would never have made whilst Madame Dumas was still alive… Jeannine wrote to Mrs E. today.” – 24 April 1895: “I believe that, deep down, he has been very pleased with this reconciliation, because he feels that Jeannine is still more or less the best thing he has left.” – 22 December 1895: “What you tell me about Mr Dumas’s health pleases me… Do you think this solitude is good for him? Haven’t you noticed that when one talks to him for a while, his expression loses some of its sadness…” – 22 December 1895: “Have you thought of asking Claretie for a short preface for the auction catalogue? It seems they are about to start work on this catalogue… Have you seen Colette again? She is keeping her distance and no longer writes to us.” ” – 23 March 1896: On the future of *La Route de Thèbes*, Hauterive recalls the line from Dumas’s will: “Neither letters nor anything unpublished of mine shall be published.” – 24 May 1896: “I’ve learnt from the *Journal* that *Hamlet* will be performed on Tuesday at the *Français*. I seem to recall you telling me at the time of the Danicheff performances that Mr Dumas did not send flowers for these revivals. If, however, I am mistaken, I grant you an unlimited line of credit to do as you see fit – 2 May 1898: “ I’ve been thinking about what you told me regarding *Monsieur Alphonse*, but, although Porel is not due to revive it, none of the four of us is in favour of staging the play at the Théâtre Français, where it will languish amongst all the others that are already gathering dust. ’ – 10 October 1900: ‘Thank you very much for sending me Mrs Samary’s letter. I replied that I deeply regretted not being able to do her a favour. ” – 12 March 1901: “Clairin asks me what has become of two drawings enhanced with pastel, depicting A. Dumas the Elder and A. Dumas the Younger, and signed Romain Cazes… Might they not be at Marly?… I was also asked what had become of a painting by Manet that Mr Dumas had – ‘a man’s head’! I have no recollection of it.”
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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