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Forgive me for my silence. Since I have moved<ref name="n2" />, some unceasing attacks have put me into such a state of depression that I am not even able to sign a single copy of my books<ref name="n3" />. To add insult to injury, having a few copies sent by the NRF, I took a pile in order to dedicate some of them. But as soon as I had signed three, I realized that the others were third editions <ref name="n4" />. I will have inquiries made at the booksellers to get some first editions, and  I’ll send you right away one of each of my books. If you see people<ref name="n5" /> to whom I should’ve sent my books and who have not received them (and will surely receive them one day, as soon as I have these first editions) pray forgive me. As, for example Chaumeix, the Countess of Noailles, the Princesse de Chimay, the Princesse de Polignac, the Comtesse Greffulhe, Barrès etc., Léon Blum above all. (Do you think that I can send (I have some) second and third editions?)<ref name="n6" />.
Forgive me for my silence. Since I have moved<ref name="n2" />, some unceasing attacks have put me into such a state of depression that I am not even able to sign a single copy of my books<ref name="n3" />. To add insult to injury, having a few copies sent by the NRF, I took a pile in order to dedicate some of them. But as soon as I had signed three, I realized that the others were third editions <ref name="n4" />. I will have inquiries made at the booksellers to get some first editions, and  I’ll send you right away one of each of my books. If you see people<ref name="n5" /> to whom I should’ve sent my books and who have not received them (and will surely receive them one day, as soon as I have these first editions) pray forgive me. As, for example Chaumeix, the Countess of Noailles, the Princesse de Chimay, the Princesse de Polignac, the Comtesse Greffulhe, Barrès etc., Léon Blum above all. (Do you think that I can send (I have some) second and third editions?)<ref name="n6" />.


Place at the feet of the Princesse<ref name="n7" /> my tributes of greatest respectful admirations.
Place at the feet of the Princesse<ref name="n7" /> my tributes of greatest respectful admiration.


Yours
Yours

Latest revision as of 09:20, 17 October 2022


Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Antoine Bibesco [end of June or beginning of July 1919]

(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)

[1]

My dear Antoine

Forgive me for my silence. Since I have moved[2], some unceasing attacks have put me into such a state of depression that I am not even able to sign a single copy of my books[3]. To add insult to injury, having a few copies sent by the NRF, I took a pile in order to dedicate some of them. But as soon as I had signed three, I realized that the others were third editions [4]. I will have inquiries made at the booksellers to get some first editions, and I’ll send you right away one of each of my books. If you see people[5] to whom I should’ve sent my books and who have not received them (and will surely receive them one day, as soon as I have these first editions) pray forgive me. As, for example Chaumeix, the Countess of Noailles, the Princesse de Chimay, the Princesse de Polignac, the Comtesse Greffulhe, Barrès etc., Léon Blum above all. (Do you think that I can send (I have some) second and third editions?)[6].

Place at the feet of the Princesse[7] my tributes of greatest respectful admiration.

Yours

Marcel Proust

[8] [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ This letter is dated [about the end of June or the first days of July 1919] by Philip Kolb, after Proust's allusions to the publication of his books (note 3 below) and to the reasons preventing him from sending copies of them to his friends (notes 4 and 6). Also see note 5. [PK]
  2. ↑ Forced to leave 102 Boulevard Haussmann, Proust had been living at 8 bis rue Laurent-Pichat since 31 May 1919. See his letter to Madame Catusse of [1 June 1919] (CP 03792; Kolb, XVIII, no. 111). [FP]
  3. ↑ Gustave Tronche's letter of 15 June 1919 (CP 03802; Kolb, XVIII, no. 121) promised Proust that the volumes recently published by the NRF (À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, Pastiches et Mélanges, and the reprint of Du côté de chez Swann) would be in all the bookshops in Paris "by the end of the week", which is to say Saturday 21 June. [PK]
  4. ↑ In his letter of 4 July 1919 (CP 03841; Kolb, XVIII, no. 160), Tronche explains that demand for the first edition was so great that he was forced to send Proust second and third editions. [PK]
  5. ↑ The recipient must have been in Paris. Le Figaro of 26 June 1919 announed, on page 4, under the column Society News, and the heading "Arrivals in Paris": "Monsieur Prince A. Bibesco". [PK]
  6. ↑ In his letter to Robert Dreyfus of [1 or 2 July 1919] (CP 03829; Kolb, XVIII, no. 148), Proust explains the difficulties that have prevented him from sending copies of his books to critics and his friends. [PK]
  7. ↑ Princesse Elizabeth, née Asquith, had been married to the recipient since the end of April. [PK]
  8. ↑ Translation notes:
  9. ↑ Contributors: Remy11, Gdrummond, Mjhayes, Yorktaylors
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