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a pile of old papers with handwriting on themseveral old letters and papers on a white surfaceseveral old letters are stacked on top of each other on a white surfacetwo handwritten letters on a piece of paper with writing on thema handwritten letter from a man to a woman on a piece of papertwo letters and a piece of paper on a white surfacea close up of a piece of paper with writing on itan old handwritten letter and a letter from a man who is writing a lettera close up of a piece of paper with writing on ita handwritten letter from a man who wrote a letter to his motheran old letter from a man who is writing a letter to a womanthree old letters are sitting on top of a piece of papera letter from a woman who is holding a tennis racquetan old handwritten letter from a man who is writing on a piece of paperseveral old letters and papers are on a white surfacea close up of a piece of paper with handwriting on itsome old papers are stacked on top of each other on a tablethree handwritten letters and a piece of paper with writing on thema close up of a piece of paper with handwriting on ita close up of a piece of paper with handwriting on itseveral old papers are stacked on top of each other on a table
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143 - Correspondence received by René Benjamin, 1940–1948
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Estimate €1,500 - €2,500
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Description
Correspondence received by René Benjamin, 1940–1948 Collection of correspondence, handwritten notes, press cuttings and miscellaneous items FIND THE FULL AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS LOT IN OUR ONLINE AUCTION CATALOGUE A significant collection comprising over 2,200 letters, postcards andS./visiting cards received by René Benjamin between 1940 and 1948, relating to expressions of thanks and congratulations, requests to speak and to write articles, reactions to the publication of articles and books, and to lectures, etc., including: 11 personal letters and notes, 1943–1946, from Alphonse Métérié, poet and writer, plus 9 typewritten quarto pages of poems Letter from the author, Paris, 16 May 1941, Pierre Barthélémy Gheusi (1865–1943), writer, journalist and renowned director of the Opéra-Comique in Paris Maurice Beau (1900–1980), poet, 6 signed handwritten and typewritten poems, 1943–1946: *Paysage d’hiver* (1943), Between Christ and the Flowers (1944), There Is No Greater Love (1944), For an Epitaph on My Mother’s Grave (1944), Old Stones (1945), Paraphrase of Psalm LXII (1946) 3 L.A.S./P.A.S., Camille Mauclair, poet and novelist Letter from the author, Poitiers, 8 June 1940, to Paul Hymans, Belgian statesman (who served several times as Minister for Foreign Affairs and was the first President of the League of Nations); the Belgian government took refuge in France, notably in Poitiers, following Germany’s invasion of Belgium on 10 May 1940 Letter, Clermont-Ferrand, 26 July 1940, on ‘Candide’ letterhead, Fernand Brouty, son-in-law of the publisher Arthème Fayard; together with his brother-in-law Jean Fayard, he co-directed the renowned publishing house Librairie Arthème Fayard and its press company, and was the editor of the major political and literary weekly *Candide* Letter from the author, 5 October 1940, Henri Troyat, writer Letter from the author, 29 December 1940, Maurice Delamain, director of Éditions Stock and writer L.S., Paris, 14 July 1941, Madeleine Charnaux-Fontenoy, sculptor and aviator, and L.S. from Jean Fontenoy, journalist and collaborationist writer, a close associate of Drieu de la Rochelle Letter from the author, Bréhat, 15 January 1941, Louis Dumont-Wilden, Belgian writer and journalist Letter, Pau, 30 May 1942, Raymond Ritter, collector and historian, applying for the post of curator at the Pau Museum Letter from the author, 20 December 1942, Bertrand de Mun, businessman and former Member of Parliament, interned for two weeks at Fresnes Prison in 1941 Letter from the author, Senneville, 6 September 1942, from François Pierre-Alype, former Prefect of Gironde, replaced by Laval in May 1942 Letter from the author, Ghent, 9 June 1944, Robert de Smet, Belgian magistrate, man of letters, theatre critic and translator, recounting in detail the exodus he endured in May 1940 Letter, [Château d’Essendiéras, located in Saint-Médard-d’Excideuil in the Dordogne], 10 April 1944, Jeanne Maurice Pouquet (1874–1961), a leading figure in Parisian literary and social life, known for having been, in her youth, the principal model for Gilberte Swann in Marcel Proust’s work, wife of Maurice Pouquet and mother of Simone de Caillavet, who married the famous writer André Maurois Whilst her husband Maurice was in hospital, Jeanne Pouquet, left alone at the Château d’Essendiéras, received a visit from the formidable German division carrying out ferocious repressive operations in the area (they would go on to burn down the neighbouring village of Rouffignac) L.A.S., Pontoise, 21 May 1944, letterhead of the Latinité Association, founded on 8 September 1942 to perpetuate and extend the influence of Frédéric Mistral and his doctrine; Jacques Reynaud (1894–1965), poet, journalist, playwright and editor of a literary journal 2 L.A.S., 1944, Jean Variot, man of letters L.A.S., 5 April 1947, Logis de Girac, La Couronne (Charente), Henri Lacombe, engineer; a long letter recounting the extrajudicial arrests carried out by the maquis during the collapse of the Vichy regime. The Charente, and more particularly the Angoulême area, was the scene of a particularly intense extralegal purge, involving a mixture of neighbourhood score-settling and ‘maquis’ justice. The abuses described by Lacombe in this letter correspond to the documented excesses of certain ‘black maquis’ or uncontrolled elements who set themselves up as vigilantes before De Gaulle’s Provisional Government managed to restore the rule of law L.A.S., Fresnes Prison, 2 January 1948, Xavier Vallat, former Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy regime, tried by the High Court of Justice in December 1947 (his trial concluded on 10 December 1947 with a ten-year prison sentence) 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
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