Null Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). L.A.S., October 26, 1939, to a friend; 1 page in…

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Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). L.A.S., October 26, 1939, to a friend; 1 page in-8 on the letterhead of Mercure de France. At the beginning of the "phoney war". He evokes the "stagnation" at the Mercure: "We are, therefore, also victims of the war. [...] We don't know, with this curious war, where we are going. How do you get bored, if you work? For me, life in the provinces has always seemed full of charms. I would have liked to be a writer in a county town, busy with local things, who is a great man in the region. That's what we both needed. We missed our lives"...

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Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). L.A.S., October 26, 1939, to a friend; 1 page in-8 on the letterhead of Mercure de France. At the beginning of the "phoney war". He evokes the "stagnation" at the Mercure: "We are, therefore, also victims of the war. [...] We don't know, with this curious war, where we are going. How do you get bored, if you work? For me, life in the provinces has always seemed full of charms. I would have liked to be a writer in a county town, busy with local things, who is a great man in the region. That's what we both needed. We missed our lives"...

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Estim. 500 - 700 EUR

Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). Autograph manuscript at the end of corrected proofs, [1910]; 3pages in-8, including 3/4 page autograph. Maurice Boissard's dramatic chronicle deals with Bouhélier's Carnaval des enfants de Saint-Georges; Léautaud takes the opportunity to speak ill of modern actresses, ugly, skinny, skeletal and bosomless. Then, in this long autograph addition, Léautaud fulminates against the public: "I have often said how little good I think of the public. Not only for their lack of taste, which makes them more interested in silly, wordy plays, and more interested in lowbrow politeness than in works of observation. But also for its lack of intelligence. It happens to me at every moment, at the theater, to see most of the spectators laughing at things that are in no way laughable, which are on the contrary very fine and even hide emotion under their comic spin". And he railed against the audience's ignorance of Lucien Guitry's Tartufe...

Estim. 800 - 1 000 EUR

Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). L.A.S., July 11, 1949, to Maurice Martin du Gard; 2 1/2 pages in-8 filled with tight handwriting. Long, interesting letter on the purge. Martin du Gard is one of the few people who, in Léautaud's eyes, "have known how to live through this astonishing period of war, and this repugnant and despicable other period of liberation, while keeping all their reason, reason being for me far superior to all enthusiasm, and to all zeal, and to all so-called civic sacrifice, which I hold to be the results of a formidable stupidity. War, as I see it, is a matter for governments, the military and soldiers. I have no interest in underground warriors"... Léautaud speaks of Robert Brasillach who, at his trial, "behaved very bravely, denying nothing of his conduct as a journalist. He was 33 years old. Sentenced to death, at that age, for newspaper articles. Obviously, it's a bit enormous". But Léautaud remembers some of Brasillach's articles: "When you call for the death of your adversaries, you have to expect that if they win, they will return the favor. Léautaud relates his remarks to a prominent member of the Communist Party: "Resistance fighters, maquisards, militiamen, I put them all in the same bag, and the bag down the drain". He felt that "we are being colonized by the Americans", and declared to Florence Gould: "Let's hope that one day there will be a new Joan of Arc to kick you out". He met François Mauriac, who was "so friendly, so cordial and in terms that made me not know where to put myself [...] he didn't tell you anything about the reciprocation I gave him, telling him that I can't forget the attitude he had at the beginning of the liberation, that I don't like vigilantes, and that I broke off all relations with Duhamel for this reason alone"... Léautaud goes back to work, "which I have nicely neglected all these last days, spending them reading, daydreaming, walking around Paris, all like a real old man that I have become, who has only 1/4 of normal sight left, and who has let his mind be poisoned by the infamies of so-called justice and the demagogic debaucheries of this present time"...

Estim. 500 - 700 EUR

Paul LÉAUTAUD (1872-1956). L.A.S. "P.L.", September 13, 1950, to Auriant; 1page in-8 on yellow paper. About cats and beasts. He tells her about a product for his cat Kléber's itch, and adds: "your taste for such peaceful animals, with warrior names! Haven't you already had a Napoleon?" Léautaud worries about the cat's wounds, which need to be treated with care. The itching may come from the fish: "It's always a good idea not to give too strong a diet to sedentary animals living in confinement". He adds: "There is but one company in the world worth that of beasts, Walt Whitman celebrating their wisdom. They have no religion, no mysticism, they don't beat their chests, they know no remorse, mea culpa".

Estim. 150 - 250 EUR

DROLE de GUERRE (1939-1940). Collection of humorous postcards, some by Germaine BOURET, including a 119th RI menu from October 1939 and various 1940 diaries. Approx. 36 items.

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