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an old book with writing on it sitting on top of a tableseveral old letters and envelopes are stacked on top of each othera close up of a piece of paper with handwriting on itseveral old black and white photographs of people and vehiclesseveral old letters and envelopes sitting on top of each otherseveral old papers are stacked on top of each other on a white surface
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91 - Charles Maurras, Son of the Sea, 1931–1932
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Estimate €1,000 - €2,000
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Description
Charles Maurras, Son of the Sea, 1931–1932 A collection of manuscripts, correspondence, press cuttings and miscellaneous items FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE This unique collection of documents reveals the creation of a literary work and presents Charles Maurras as a co-author rather than merely a subject of study. He ensured that René Benjamin did not merely recount a visit to Martigues, but faithfully conveyed Maurras’s method and style, blending Provençal poetry with dialectical rigour. The manuscripts prove that Maurras intervened in the texts devoted to him. We can see his hand (in red and black ink) striking out, correcting and, above all, rewriting his own dialogues to give them greater force or doctrinal precision, reworking his own lines so that they appear more ‘Maurrassian’. He adds geographical and political details to ground Benjamin’s account in a more rigorous historical analysis. He insists on the use of ‘our France’ or ‘our cause’, signalling his total commitment to the struggle of Action française. The genesis, the first meetings, notably at the Countess Murat’s, 1927–1931 Handwritten notes on loose sheets, written by René Benjamin, 16 pp. in-12 and in-8, including: A surprising note dated 10 November 1929: at Varillon’s. Lunch for the “Vie Littéraire” of A.F. Varillon said a few words over dessert. He asked that we send our regards to Maurras. Maurras stood up, thanked everyone for something he hadn’t heard (but he could see the faces!) and said: ‘Yes, let’s drink to those absent! (And first and foremost, Daudet.) Daudet, without whom the A.F. would be nothing more than a party… of… of professors… Without that vibrant force that was brought to life by his magnificent charisma. etc… ’ He sits back down, picks up his glass: ‘Er!... I want to say something else to you...’ (Tender, his cheekbones flushed, a sudden flash in his eyes, his lips quivering with inspiration): ‘Let us drink not only to those who are absent, but to absence itself, to the essential idea of absence, through which, incidentally, it seems to me that I define myself somewhat, and in which, indeed, I find my raison d’être—the absence that represents for us all that is lacking and all that we wish to fulfil!’ ’ – ‘Magnificent!’ murmurs Bernanos, who is standing beside him, eyes raised to the sky, dreaming as is his wont. Maurras’s daily routine as recounted by Varillon, 17 April 1931 Varillon imitates him like no one else. This evening, he invited me to meet his children, as he puts it—that is to say, the young people who write for *La Vie Littéraire*—and he does it for us, he plays the part to perfection! He gets up, he says, at one o’clock. Lunch on Rue de Bourgogne, behind the Chambre des Députés, in a little bistro. Ever since he stopped having lunch at the Quai d’Orsay, where two of A.F.’s crazy fans once publicly fought over him. He then works in his little flat on Rue de Bourgogne until 6 o’clock. At 6 o’clock, A.F. begins his article. From half past seven to nine o’clock, he receives visitors. At 9 o’clock he has a light dinner: soup, fruit. At half past ten he goes to the print shop, staying there until 6 or 7 in the morning: he deals with his correspondence. He goes to bed at that time, on Rue de Verneuil. Varillon is priceless when he depicts him feverishly opening his post – the best moment of the day. What will he find? He doesn’t use one of those little wooden letter openers, the sort Varillon has offered him twenty times over. No, he does it with his thumb, and if the envelope or its lining, pulled at one, two or three sides, still resists, he then reduces it to shreds, sending the fragments flying across the room. He’ll gather up these scraps if he suddenly finds a banknote, and will write the amount found on the scrap of envelope before putting the note back inside. He tears through the books he’s received with his finger. If he tears a page in two, he pins the two ends together. To retrieve a magazine from beneath a pile of books, he pulls, and everything falls; he then calls out, very politely: ‘Would you be so kind as to, etc...’ The visit to Martigues, August 1931 L.A.S., Taillefer, Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, 14 July 1931, Pierre Varillon, 2 pp. in-8; an enthusiastic Varillon, organising a summer meeting between Benjamin and Charles Maurras in Martigues + telegram The ‘Venice of Provence’, Maurras’s birthplace in Martigues, postcard 11 small photographs of the visit to Martigues, 8 August 1931: Pierre Varillon at the wheel of a car; Charles Maurras in the garden of his property; Charles Maurras and René Benjamin; Geneviève Ruxton René Benjamin’s pocket notebook of handwritten notes, 15 x 10 cm, 90 ff., in which he records, day by day in pencil, his journey and visit to Charles Maurras’s Provençal estate, capturing the intimacy of the master of the house and sketching in words what he sees and hears The collaborative writing of the biography Photocopies of the original handwritten draft entitled ‘Le Bain de Charles Maurras’, written between 7 November 1931 and 15 April 1932
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About the sale René Benjamin, the 20th-century Balzac scholar
Auction location
Auction time 10/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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