Max JACOB.

[No place or date [Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, ca. 1936-1937]. Autograph manuscript in black ink of 70 leaves in-4, numbered 23-92 [with one f. 74bis, f. 70 missing] mounted on tabs: burgundy morocco, smooth spine, double framing of cold filets on the boards, interior framing of the same morocco decorated with cold filets, gilt edges (Semet & Plumelle). Important autograph working manuscript, offering corrections, erasures, as well as variants and unpublished passages: it belonged to Louis Broder, the first editor of the text. A capital and first-hand testimony on Cubism, Chronique des Temps héroïques was initially intended to introduce the memoirs of the art dealer Paul Guillaume, who died in 1934. Max Jacob worked on it for several years, but published only a fragment in January 1937 in the review Les Feux de Paris under the title: "Le Tiers transporté." Only in 1956, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the author's birth, did Louis Broder publish the complete version, with illustrations by Picasso. Incomplete from the beginning, the manuscript begins on page 33 of the published text and offers the entire continuation - with the exception of Chapter VI, which is replaced here by three unpublished pages entitled "Voyage en Suisse" (pp. 71-73). According to a note in Louis Broder's hand, these folios 71-73 were found in a Parisian bookshop in 1966: "They are unpublished and should be placed before page 99 of the Chronique des Temps héroïques, at the beginning of the chapter. Look for: folio 70 (title page of the second part? pages 1-22)." Pages 36-38 offer several unpublished, erased passages. Furthermore, the manuscript differs slightly from the edition in the placement of the titles and subtitles. In anticipation of a future find, Louis Broder asked his bookbinder to reserve the necessary space at the head of the volume. Evidently, he never succeeded: thus the beginning of the text was probably published from the Feux de Paris. This missing part resurfaced in 2019, in the sale of the library of the bookseller Bernard Loliée (22 May 2019, no. 27.) The 20-leaf manuscript includes the title used by Max Jacob for the publication in review added by the author himself at a later stage. The catalogue of the Loliée sale mentions two chapters of Max Jacob's book preserved in public collections: "Mouvement moderne" in the Orléans library, and "Art nègre", in the Gompel-Netter collection of the BnF. They appear to be unpublished. A photographic portrait of Max Jacob, showing him in his room in the rue Gabrielle in 1917, according to the handwritten caption on the back, has been mounted at the head of the book. Silver print (23,9 x 18 cm).