Translations:CP 03007/30/en

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↑ The letter from Nicolas Cottin has not been found. Indeed not a single letter from Nicolas Cottin to Marcel Proust has ever turned up. Only two letters from Proust to Nicolas have been published to this day (CP 02123; Kolb, X, no. 66, and this one). On the other hand Philip Kolb found four letters from Proust to Céline Cottin (CP 01854, CP 01923, CP 01996 and CP 02972; Kolb, VIII, no. 110 and 179; IX, no. 71; XIV, no. 83). Nicolas Cottin was born in Brouillat, commune of Marizy (Saône et Loire), 30 January 1873 (register of births no. 6, Marizy, 5 E 279/11, online, image 3). First of all he was the Proust family valet, subsequently Marcel's valet, who then sometimes employed him as secretary (see his portrait by Paul Nadar in 1914). As a matter of fact, despite Cottin's poor spelling, Proust dictated at least one letter to him (CP 02277; Kolb, XI, no. 13) and numerous pages of drafts for his novel (see Anthony Pugh, "Sur le copiste de la première dactylographie", BIP, nº 31, 2000, p. 23-30 ; see also L'Agenda 1906, Introduction, note 19). Céline, as Céleste Albaret would be, was interviewed later about her recollections. In 1954 she recalled Nicolas's participation in Proust's writing in these words: "His pages were scattered everywhere. My husband collected them together for him using a little stapler. Sometimes Nicolas would even make corrections to what he wrote. [...] Monsieur would dictate phrases to Nicolas that he had forgotten." (Paul Guth, "À l'ombre des Marcel Proust", Le Figaro littéraire, 25 September 1954, p. 4.) It seems that he had just as little appreciation of his master as he had for his writing, because he told Céline: "It's annoying, but you'll see, he's going to be somebody" and, after the publication of Du côté de chez Swann he said: "His words are just as annoying as he is. But you wait and see, after he's dead he'll be a success..." (Céline quotes her husband in two interviews. See Paul Guth, op. cit; et S. Ch.-M., "À la recherche de Combray. Céline – gouvernante de Marcel Proust – nous décrit la vie intime de son maître", La Tribune de Lausanne, 11 September 1960, p. 13). For an example of Nicolas Cottin's handwriting, see the added manuscript pages in the typescript of Du côté de chez Swann (NAF 16730, f. 5-6 r.). Also it seems that Proust thought of Nicolas's father, Lazare Cottin, for the character of Bloch's father, as revealed by two explanatory notes in Cahier 57: on a paperole in f. 47 r. and on f. 64 r., in an addition in the left margin (see RTP, t. IV, Esquisse LXVII, p. 971). For details in the civil registry about Lazare Cottin, born 13 March 1846, in Brouillat, see his registry of birth (no. 8, 14 March 1846, Marizy, 5 E 279/6, online, image 30), and his marriage to Anne Marie Magnin-Curt (14 January 1872, no. 1, Marizy, 5 E 279/9, online, image 1). We also learn that at that time Nicolas's father was a wheelwright and his mother a domestic servant and she was also an orphan (cf. birth certificate no. 4068, 7 October 1851, Lyon, 2E452, online, image 236). [FP, PW]

[n1-1] The letter from Nicolas Cottin has not been found. Indeed not a single letter from Nicolas Cottin to Marcel Proust has ever turned up. Only two letters from Proust to Nicolas have been published to this day (CP 02123; Kolb, X, no. 66, and this one). On the other hand Philip Kolb found four letters from Proust to Céline Cottin (CP 01854, CP 01923, CP 01996 and CP 02972; Kolb, VIII, no. 110 and 179; IX, no. 71; XIV, no. 83). Nicolas Cottin was born in Brouillat, commune of Marizy (Saône et Loire), 30 January 1873 (register of births no. 6, Marizy, 5 E 279/11, online, image 3). First of all he was the Proust family valet, subsequently Marcel's valet, who then sometimes employed him as secretary (see his portrait by Paul Nadar in 1914). As a matter of fact, despite Cottin's poor spelling, Proust dictated at least one letter to him (CP 02277; Kolb, XI, no. 13) and numerous pages of drafts for his novel (see Anthony Pugh, "Sur le copiste de la première dactylographie", BIP, nº 31, 2000, p. 23-30 ; see also L'Agenda 1906, Introduction, note 19). Céline, as Céleste Albaret would be, was interviewed later about her recollections. In 1954 she recalled Nicolas's participation in Proust's writing in these words: "His pages were scattered everywhere. My husband collected them together for him using a little stapler. Sometimes Nicolas would even make corrections to what he wrote. [...] Monsieur would dictate phrases to Nicolas that he had forgotten." (Paul Guth, "À l'ombre des Marcel Proust", Le Figaro littéraire, 25 September 1954, p. 4.) It seems that he had just as little appreciation of his master as he had for his writing, because he told Céline: "It's annoying, but you'll see, he's going to be somebody" and, after the publication of Du côté de chez Swann he said: "His words are just as annoying as he is. But you wait and see, after he's dead he'll be a success..." (Céline quotes her husband in two interviews. See Paul Guth, op. cit; et S. Ch.-M., "À la recherche de Combray. Céline – gouvernante de Marcel Proust – nous décrit la vie intime de son maître", La Tribune de Lausanne, 11 September 1960, p. 13). For an example of Nicolas Cottin's handwriting, see the added manuscript pages in the typescript of Du côté de chez Swann (NAF 16730, f. 5-6 r.). Also it seems that Proust thought of Nicolas's father, Lazare Cottin, for the character of Bloch's father, as revealed by two explanatory notes in Cahier 57: on a paperole in f. 47 r. and on f. 64 r., in an addition in the left margin (see RTP, t. IV, Esquisse LXVII, p. 971). For details in the civil registry about Lazare Cottin, born 13 March 1846, in Brouillat, see his registry of birth (no. 8, 14 March 1846, Marizy, 5 E 279/6, online, image 30), and his marriage to Anne Marie Magnin-Curt (14 January 1872, no. 1, Marizy, 5 E 279/9, online, image 1). We also learn that at that time Nicolas's father was a wheelwright and his mother a domestic servant and she was also an orphan (cf. birth certificate no. 4068, 7 October 1851, Lyon, 2E452, online, image 236). [FP, PW]

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Translations:CP 03007/30/en

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