166 - Henri MICHAUX. Mescaline-Induced Writing. No place or date [1955].

Henri MICHAUX. Mescaline-Induced Writing. No place or date [1955]. 1 page, in-4 format, in pencil, numbered “92.” Includes: A signed autograph letter addressed to René Bertelé. No place or date [1955]. 1 page, in-8 format. Text written under the influence of mescaline, intended for the collection *Misérable Miracle* and from the archives of René Bertelé: with Michaux’s accompanying letter. Henri Michaux sent him the manuscript, which was previously stapled to the letter. “Here is the rest. You now have everything. Pages 2 through 19. We could, if necessary, omit one or two. I’m enclosing a page of drawings so that you can—after consulting a printer—decide on the format. Plus one handwritten page. Warmest regards, H.M. Phew! I’ll never start a study over again in my life.” A rare manuscript in the “mescaline style,” written under the influence of the drug that Michaux experimented with beginning in the 1950s, in an attempt to explore the transformations of his perception and consciousness. This page, numbered 92 at the top, is sometimes incorrectly described as a “mescaline drawing”: “It is in fact truly writing, however strongly it tends to veer toward drawing,” observes Raymond Bellour. “Strictly speaking, there are no known manuscripts or typescripts of the ‘drug books,’ from *Misérable Miracle* to *Les Grandes Épreuves de l’esprit*. […] The second set is found in the Bertelé archives. This time, it consists of two vertical pages, numbered 86 and 92. All of these pages, like those in the Michaux archives, are written in pencil” (Michaux, Œuvres complètes, II, Pléiade, pp. 1282–1283). Minor tear in the paper along one edge and a staple mark. The letter also has a staple mark.