Description

Handwritten notebook by André Breton, dated May 1931, composed of poems, some of which were published in Le Revolver à cheveux blancs (The White-Haired Revolver). One of them will thereafter be entitled ‘L'Union libre’ (Free Union).

A notebook of poems, copied and edited in Breton's hand. These are manuscripts from the very early 1930s, including texts that are very well-known, such as ‘L'Union libre’ (here scattered in several fragments) as well as others that are little known, such as ‘C'est le style japonais...’ (‘It’s the Japanese style…’), and a few other titles, including ‘Lit vieille cornemuse...’ (‘Bed of old bagpipes…’), given in the Inédits I of Volume II of the Pléiade Œuvres complètes). The whole is a sort of prelude to the selection that will be made in Le Revolver à cheveux blancs. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Autograph notebook in-8°, 1931.24 pages of poems handwritten by André Breton (including the first two stages of the famous poem ‘L'Union libre’ published in 1931 without the author's name and limited to 75 copies), with a few erasures and corrections, in black ink, on a school notebook with an orange cover. In addition to texts not included in the collection (or even unpublished in a journal), the notebook contains the texts of the third part of Le Revolver à cheveux blancs, of which no complete manuscript exists due to its anthological nature. These texts have variations from the final version. (Œuvres complètes, Volume II, note on p.1323).

Image 1. - 1 page numbered VIII: ‘Lit vieille cornemuse...’ (‘Bed of old bagpipes…’), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, p. 634).

Images 2-4. - 3 pages numbered VII: ‘Ma femme à la chevelure de feu de bois...’ (‘My wife with the hair of a wood fire...’), (‘L'Union libre’, cf. Œuvres complètes, Notes and variations, pp.1336-1338, 1st stage of the text designated MS 1).

Images 5-10. - 6 pages under numeral I: ‘C'est le style japonais...’ (‘It’s the Japanese style...’) (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, pp.624-628); the end of the text is dated: "Lyons, 20 May 1931."

Image 11. - 2 pages numbered II [of which only one is reproduced]: ‘Des bas de femme tamisent la lumière de Londres...’ (Women's stockings dim the light of London..), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, pp.82-83, published in Le Revolver à cheveux blancs under the title ‘Après le grand tamanoir’ (‘After the Great Anteater’)).

Images 12-13. - 2 pages numbered III: ‘Connais-tu le verbe être...’ (‘Do you know the verb to be…’), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, pp.82-83).

Images 14-15. - 3 pages numbered IV [of which only two are reproduced]: ‘Les bras du fauteuil contre la description de la campagne...’ (‘The arms of the chair against the description of the countryside...’), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Le Revolver à cheveux blancs, pp.84-85 under the title ‘Tout va bien’ (‘All’s well’)).

Images 16-19. 4 pages numbered V: ‘Le jour où je naissais...’ (‘On the day I was born'), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, pp.630-632).

Image 20. 1 numbered page VI: ‘Lyons-la-Forêt, terre du crime...’ ('Lyons-la-Forêt, land of crime…'), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, p.633).

Images 21-23. 3 pages numbered VII bis: ‘Ma femme aux épaules de champagne...’ (‘My wife with shoulders of champagne…’), beginning with ‘Ma femme à la chevelure de feu de bois...’ (‘My wife with the hair of a wood fire...’), (‘L'Union libre’, Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Notes and variants, pp.1338-1340 - 2nd stage of text, designated MS 2).

Image 24. 1 page numbered IX: ‘Que les mesures d'étain...’ (‘That measures pewter…’), (Œuvres complètes, Vol. II, Inédits I, p.635).

An extraordinary document. [Sale Catalogue, 2003, with corrections by Atelier André Breton website, 2013]

Bibliography

- [André Breton], L'Union libre, Paris, 1931.
- André Breton, Le Revolver à cheveux blancs, Paris, Les Cahiers libres, 1932.
- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration d'Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Le Revolver à cheveux blancs, Œuvres complètes, tome II, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1992, p. 82-85, notes et variantes, p. 1336-1340.
- André Breton, (Édition de Marguerite Bonnet avec la collaboration d'Étienne-Alain Hubert et José Pierre), Inédits I, Œuvres complètes, tome II, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 1992, p. 624-635.

 

Creation date	1925 - 1931
Date of publication	1931
Languages	French
Physical description	Ms sur cahier et trois recto sur papier A3 plié au format A4 - encre noire
Library	Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet, Paris : BRT 61
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 2165
Keywords	Work notes, Poetry, Erotism
Categories	Manuscripts, Andre Breton's Manuscripts
Set	[AB's Manuscripts] Miscellaneous Manuscripts
Permanent link	https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100904170

See also