Description
PROUST (Marcel). Autograph letter signed "Marcel Proust" to Constantin Ullmann. Paris, [December 25 or 26, 1918]. 4 pp. in-8 on gray paper. " ... What bad luck, me who never goes out, I'm dining in town on Saturday [at Princess Soutzo's], and as at previous dinners I arrived after the soup and left before the ice cream, I promised this time to stay a while. But at eleven o'clock I'll leave at all costs, and I'll be at a quarter past eleven at Monsieur Guzman Blanco's [Roberto Guzmán Blanco, friend of Frédéric de Madrazo and Reynaldo Hahn, son of Antonio Guzmán Blanco, former president of Venezuela, to whom Reynaldo's father had been close]. I hope he won't find it too late. I'll probably come, 11:1/4, 11:1/2, maybe even a little earlier. Above all, tell him how delighted I am to know him, give him all my heartfelt thanks, take your share and believe me, my dear Constantin, your devoted friend Marcel Proust. P. S. I suddenly remember (dear Constantin, DON'T BELIEVE ME MONDAIN, I beg you, it will never happen to me to go out like that) that I ALSO HAD AN EVENING SATURDAY (rue Raynouard, that's not very near!) [no doubt at the Duchess Clermont-Tonnerre's, who lived in that street]. I promised, but I didn't remember that Saturday was December 28. So here's what I'll do. Instead of leaving dinner at eleven o'clock, I'll leave at eleven minutes to one quarter. I'll be at Monsieur Guzman Blanco's (whose address I don't know) at eleven o'clock, I'll stay for a quarter of an hour to have the pleasure of getting to know him, and then I'll leave for rue Raynouard, where I'll have a chat around 11 1/2 with the last people still there. If Mr. Guzman Blanco would prefer me to do the opposite, I could be at eleven o'clock on rue Raynouard, and finish with Mr. Guzman Blanco, at whose house I'd assist in this 2nd combination around twenty minutes to midnight. And I could stay with you at his place until 1 a.m. THE LAST COMBINATION SEEMS BETTER TO ME BECAUSE IT LEAVES ME MORE TIME WITH BOTH OF YOU, but I take my orders from Monsieur Guzman Blanco."
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PROUST (Marcel). Autograph letter signed "Marcel Proust" to Constantin Ullmann. Paris, [December 25 or 26, 1918]. 4 pp. in-8 on gray paper. " ... What bad luck, me who never goes out, I'm dining in town on Saturday [at Princess Soutzo's], and as at previous dinners I arrived after the soup and left before the ice cream, I promised this time to stay a while. But at eleven o'clock I'll leave at all costs, and I'll be at a quarter past eleven at Monsieur Guzman Blanco's [Roberto Guzmán Blanco, friend of Frédéric de Madrazo and Reynaldo Hahn, son of Antonio Guzmán Blanco, former president of Venezuela, to whom Reynaldo's father had been close]. I hope he won't find it too late. I'll probably come, 11:1/4, 11:1/2, maybe even a little earlier. Above all, tell him how delighted I am to know him, give him all my heartfelt thanks, take your share and believe me, my dear Constantin, your devoted friend Marcel Proust. P. S. I suddenly remember (dear Constantin, DON'T BELIEVE ME MONDAIN, I beg you, it will never happen to me to go out like that) that I ALSO HAD AN EVENING SATURDAY (rue Raynouard, that's not very near!) [no doubt at the Duchess Clermont-Tonnerre's, who lived in that street]. I promised, but I didn't remember that Saturday was December 28. So here's what I'll do. Instead of leaving dinner at eleven o'clock, I'll leave at eleven minutes to one quarter. I'll be at Monsieur Guzman Blanco's (whose address I don't know) at eleven o'clock, I'll stay for a quarter of an hour to have the pleasure of getting to know him, and then I'll leave for rue Raynouard, where I'll have a chat around 11 1/2 with the last people still there. If Mr. Guzman Blanco would prefer me to do the opposite, I could be at eleven o'clock on rue Raynouard, and finish with Mr. Guzman Blanco, at whose house I'd assist in this 2nd combination around twenty minutes to midnight. And I could stay with you at his place until 1 a.m. THE LAST COMBINATION SEEMS BETTER TO ME BECAUSE IT LEAVES ME MORE TIME WITH BOTH OF YOU, but I take my orders from Monsieur Guzman Blanco."
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