114 - Henry de MONTHERLANT (1895–1972).

Henry de MONTHERLANT (1895–1972). Autograph MANUSCRIPT, *Les Bestiaires*, 1925; 10 pages, in-4. Description: At the top of this manuscript, Montherlant wrote: “The French edition of *Les Bestiaires* will be published in March by Grasset. The following fragment describes the end of the *suerte de matar* in a *novillada*.” The passage in question is taken from Chapter VIII of *Les Bestiaires*. The manuscript was carefully copied by Montherlant in blue ink. At the end, he inscribed this dedication: “This fragment was copied by me, immediately after it was composed, for the Western poet Ventura García Calderón, on the day of the autumn equinox. Montherlant, Paris, 1925.” The text begins as follows: “Come on, quickly, we must approach it any way we can, or this body, this human machine, will balk. The bull must not see that we are afraid, or we are lost”… And it ends: “Then Jesús, seizing the puntillero’s knife, cut off the beast’s genitals, and with a loud laugh he showed them to the crowd, holding them aloft at arm’s length, he too, toward the sun. And they dripped a stream of blood onto his wrist. ” Enclosed is a paperback copy of *Les Bestiaires*, illustrated by Hermann-Paul (Éditions Mornay, 1926, one of 140 unbound copies printed on Holland paper) with an autographed dedication: “To Ventura Garcia Calderon, this old, beastly, and solar book, with the faithful friendship of Montherlant, Christmas 1935”; plus a note in Spanish by Puyo (?).