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several old handwritten papers are stacked on top of each otherseveral old letters are stacked on top of each other on a white surfaceseveral old letters are stacked on top of each other on a white surface
ROUILLAC

103 - Georges Gaudy (1895–1987), writer, journalist, lecturer and …
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Estimate €100 - €200
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Description
Georges Gaudy (1895–1987), writer, journalist, lecturer and nationalist activist with Action Française Collection of correspondence 17 letters from the author, 1925–1948, addressed to René Benjamin, including: Letter from the author, 26 January 1925 Sir, I have just returned from Clermont-Ferrand and found your kind letter. Whilst there, I met the students from Action Française and was delighted to find that most of them were at least familiar with your latest book. It was a comfort to hear them talking about you and laughing merrily in a little café, where five or six sullen Freemasons, looking every inch the civil servants, were spying on us with their sombre gazes and muttering some obscure remarks through their slack lips. It is astonishing that in this France, so heroic in war, we should be so lacking in courage when it comes to civic struggles. Were it not for this magnificent Action Française, which is my reason for hope, I would share Drumont’s bleak conclusions. Moreover, for a man of your talent to speak his mind aloud, to speak out—without a care for what the salons might say—to the true French people, (...) is such a rare sight that it fills me with joy and admiration. (...) One need only read two pages of your work to see that, whilst you pay no heed to the torments of the word-twisters and verbosers, you express, in an unchanging style and in the most direct manner, what you think, without worrying about whether you please or displease. In this century of vain literary figures, you, along with a few others who are true men, are preserving our honour... L.A.S., Saint-Junien, 24 October 1927 Dear Mr Benjamin (...) I have resumed my lecture tours for Action Française. Yesterday, in Chasseneuil in the Charente, I had a debate with a Protestant minister—a very honest man, but when one speaks to him of politics, he demonstrates, or attempts to demonstrate, the superiority of water over wine and declares himself a supporter of a theocracy. On Friday I shall be going to Châteauroux (...) We shall have a hundred commissars there, for the Communists apparently wish to repeat their bloody exploits at Le Blanc. If the time in hospital we’ve had to inflict on their lot in that town isn’t enough for them, we’ll increase the dose, even if the Christian Democrats have to shed a few tears. Since the Red City, with which I am deeply dissatisfied, I have published nothing (...) I had almost finished a novel in three or four volumes (...) It deals with a fascinating problem: the small number of the Chosen Ones. During the war, I knew a dangerous thug who, following some magnificent exploits, had been promoted to corporal, which raised his standing in his own eyes. One day he was suspected of having aided the escape of prisoners of war and was stripped of his rank. Despair. This man demanded either rehabilitation or death, and nobly chose to be killed. No one but I knew his true thoughts. He left his witnesses with a tarnished image of himself. You will understand that I have reflected on the fate of this unfortunate man. What sort of heredity, what sort of upbringing had produced him! And that sense of honour which flared up like a flash of lightning from a patch of mud and led him to his death... L.A.S., ‘Camelots du Roi’ letterhead, 18 May 1929 Dear Sir (...) the world is a fine collection of fools and scoundrels. One is reminded of poor Hamlet’s words! Why bring a race of sinners into the world? I have known hundreds of men, and I have lived through four years of war – that is to say, a life worth ten monotonous existences as schoolteachers or shopkeepers – and amongst the people of my generation, I have seen only three who were interesting – interesting enough that one would be willing to lay down one’s life to save theirs. Unfortunately, two of them are dead. Both, strangely enough, had their bellies ripped open to save the lot of fools and scoundrels we rub shoulders with today. Fortunately, death draws nearer for us all, every day... Enclosed: 6 letters, 6 of which bear the letterhead of *L’Action Française*, a daily newspaper, 1922–1944, addressed to René Benjamin: 3 letters, 1922–1924, from Lucien Dubech; handwritten letter, Lyon, 15 July 1944, Roger Joseph; handwritten letter, 29 December 1940, Charles Lesca, manager of the newspaper’s printing works; Letter, Paris, 24 November 1943, Noël Boyer, music critic and editorial secretary FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE
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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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