83 - [NIETZSCHE]. – ALBERT (Henri). Autograph manuscript titled “Maximes et pointes.” 7 folios; in the margin of the first folio, a stamp from *Le Mercure de France* dated May 12, 1899.

[NIETZSCHE]. – ALBERT (Henri). Autograph manuscript titled “Maximes et pointes.” 7 folios; in the margin of the first folio, a stamp from *Le Mercure de France* dated May 12, 1899. FIRST CHAPTER OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE’S *THE TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS*. The original German version of this treatise was published in January 1889 (though the title page is dated 1888). Henri Albert produced the first French translation and published this excerpt in June 1899 in the journal *Le Mercure de France*, before releasing the complete work shortly thereafter in bookstores, published by Éditions du Mercure de France. “1. Laziness is the beginning of all psychology. How so? Is psychology a… vice? 2. Even the bravest among us rarely has the courage to assert what he truly knows… 3. “To live alone, one must be either a beast or a god,” said Aristotle. He overlooks a third possibility: one must be both at once; one must be—a philosopher... 4. “All truth is simple.”—Is this not a double lie? 5. Once and for all, there are many things I do not wish to know. – Wisdom sets limits, even on knowledge. 6. “It is in the wildness of your nature that you best recover your spirituality—I mean, your perversity...” A “BRIDGE-BUILDER” BETWEEN FRENCH AND GERMANIC CULTURES, HENRI ALBERT was a native of the Bas-Rhin. He served as the German literary correspondent for *Le Mercure de France* and also published articles on French literature in various German periodicals. Beginning in 1894, he undertook the translation of Nietzsche’s works, which appeared in the *Mercure* from 1898 to 1922. He had founded the journal *Le Centaure* in 1896 (of which only two issues were published), along with Tinan, Louÿs, Lebey, Régnier, Hérold, Valéry, and Gide.