DUMAS Alexandre (1802-1870).

Lot 23
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Estimation :
4000 - 5000 EUR
DUMAS Alexandre (1802-1870).
Carbon copy of a manuscript entitled Voyage en Belgique (indication on the folders), with autograph corrections by Alexandre Dumas. (s.l.n.d. [1838-1839]) 246 pp. and 24 half-pages, broadside (27.2 x 42.5 cm) on watermarked laid paper (scallop shell and initials "LA @ F"). Incomplete manuscript, if one follows the numbering of the pages, it misses 35 pages distributed on volumes II, III and IV. This important set is very interesting, as it presents a version with strong variations, numerous annotations and corrections, of several works by Alexandre Dumas. This set includes several publications: 16 chapters (out of 36) of his work Excursion sur les bords du Rhin: impressions de voyage, first published in 1855. Some passages were published earlier, in La Revue de Paris in 1838, in the form of letters (5 letters) "Letter to Eugène Delacroix" etc. Then some fragments again in 1840 in Le Siècle of August 13, 23 and September 13. A rare early version of the Aventures de Lyderic (complete), the Chronique du Roi Pépin (complete) and Chronique de Charlemagne (incomplete, lacking the last chapter). The Chroniques were published in Le Siècle in July and August 1841, then in volume in 1842, augmented by the Aventures de Lyderic. This carbon copy contains two types of annotations: some of them are from the first draft (carbon copy), the second ones were made later and are in ink (metal-gallic ink). The reprographic process could be the "portable copying press" which appeared in March 1838 (date of the advertisement in the Journal des débats of March 24, 1838) for the one made by George Leuenberg, sold in France at J. Panier, merchant, rue Vieille-du-Temple in Paris. This innovative press had two advantages, it was of reduced size ("can be carried rolled up in the pocket "*) and of a modest cost, 10 Fr. We emit this hypothesis (which remains to be demonstrated) because the deposit of carbon on the paper is located on the surface, the paper is not trodden by a line of pencil or other writing tool. As far as variations are concerned, the chapter titles change, the Chronicle of King Pepin and Charlemagne form a single set entitled Chronicle of Charlemagne instead of two publications. There are interesting variations in the Letter to Eugène Delacroix, since the first version of the text and the version used for the publication in La Revue de Paris are superimposed in a legible manner.
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