Translations:CP 03007/37/en

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↑ Nicolas Cottin was suffering from pleurisy contracted at the front. In March 1915, in a letter to Eugénie Lémel, former chambermaid of the family, Proust had passed on good news about Nicolas (CP 02924). And in July, he had been reassured that Nicoilas was in hospital, hence "safe", even writing to Céline: "Nicolas will soon be recovered" (CP 02972). But Cottin died on 4 July 1916 at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris (see his military service record; and Proust's letter to Lionel Hauser of 4 July 1916, CP 03152; Kolb,XV, no. 88). See the letter from the War Ministry to Céline Cottin, 1 October 1916, on the subject of her war widow's pension (Sale of the collection of Marie Claude Mante, Sotheby's Paris, 24 May 2018, lot 167). Nicolas Cottin was buried at Champignol-lez-Mondeville (Aube) where his name is included on two war memorials, erected in 1924, one in the vilage and the other in the cemetery. After her husband's death Céline went back to live in her mother's vilage, to which Proust makes a humorous reference in an autograph dedication to Nicolas in a copy of Les Plaisirs et les Jours, making a play on words on the name of the village, where Céline had gone to visit her family, and the name of a play by Feydeau, Champignol malgré lui (CP 02123, Kolb, X, no. 66 ; and Paul Guth, op. cit., p. 4, col. 5). The son of Nicolas and Céline Cottin, Antoine Cottin, initially went to live in Champignol with his maternal great-uncle, Henri Privé, at least from 1921 (census for Champignol-lez-Mandeville, no. 176, image 7), then with his mother when she went back to join him (Céline Cottin appears in the censuses for Champignol-lez-Mondeville: in 1926, no. 153, with her son, no. 154, image 7; and in 1931, no. 148, image 6). Céline remarried in this parish, on 11 February 1933, with Edmond Ferdinand Antoine (born 27 August 1882. Registry of birth no. 10, Champignol-lez-Mondeville, 4E07613, online, image 237) who was a wine-grower, like Céline's brother. She died fifty two years after Nicolas Cottin, on 19 January 1968, in a neighbouring parish, at Bar-sur-Aube (see the marginal note on her registry of birth, see note 3). On the subject of Céline and Nicolas Cottin at Champignol, see Carole Legris, "Un couple de Champignol-lez-Mondeville au service de Marcel Proust", L'Est éclair, 27 August 2018. [FP, PW]

[n8-1] Nicolas Cottin was suffering from pleurisy contracted at the front. In March 1915, in a letter to Eugénie Lémel, former chambermaid of the family, Proust had passed on good news about Nicolas (CP 02924). And in July, he had been reassured that Nicoilas was in hospital, hence "safe", even writing to Céline: "Nicolas will soon be recovered" (CP 02972). But Cottin died on 4 July 1916 at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris (see his military service record; and Proust's letter to Lionel Hauser of 4 July 1916, CP 03152; Kolb,XV, no. 88). See the letter from the War Ministry to Céline Cottin, 1 October 1916, on the subject of her war widow's pension (Sale of the collection of Marie Claude Mante, Sotheby's Paris, 24 May 2018, lot 167). Nicolas Cottin was buried at Champignol-lez-Mondeville (Aube) where his name is included on two war memorials, erected in 1924, one in the vilage and the other in the cemetery. After her husband's death Céline went back to live in her mother's vilage, to which Proust makes a humorous reference in an autograph dedication to Nicolas in a copy of Les Plaisirs et les Jours, making a play on words on the name of the village, where Céline had gone to visit her family, and the name of a play by Feydeau, Champignol malgré lui (CP 02123, Kolb, X, no. 66 ; and Paul Guth, op. cit., p. 4, col. 5). The son of Nicolas and Céline Cottin, Antoine Cottin, initially went to live in Champignol with his maternal great-uncle, Henri Privé, at least from 1921 (census for Champignol-lez-Mandeville, no. 176, image 7), then with his mother when she went back to join him (Céline Cottin appears in the censuses for Champignol-lez-Mondeville: in 1926, no. 153, with her son, no. 154, image 7; and in 1931, no. 148, image 6). Céline remarried in this parish, on 11 February 1933, with Edmond Ferdinand Antoine (born 27 August 1882. Registry of birth no. 10, Champignol-lez-Mondeville, 4E07613, online, image 237) who was a wine-grower, like Céline's brother. She died fifty two years after Nicolas Cottin, on 19 January 1968, in a neighbouring parish, at Bar-sur-Aube (see the marginal note on her registry of birth, see note 3). On the subject of Céline and Nicolas Cottin at Champignol, see Carole Legris, "Un couple de Champignol-lez-Mondeville au service de Marcel Proust", L'Est éclair, 27 August 2018. [FP, PW]

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Translations:CP 03007/37/en

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