Collection: Lettres autographes et Manuscrits

A sheet of paper, handwritten script, and then, at the bottom, an unknown signature. At first, the untrained eye struggles to decipher it. A minute passes, the eye adjusts, and the writing reveals itself. The signature remains. A few more efforts, and light dawns. Flaubert, or Juliette Drouet, or even Zola! Then this simple piece of paper takes on a whole new value, that of a first-hand document, a small piece of History.

Such is the case for this autograph letter signed by Flaubert to his cousin Caroline Laurent, dated May 3, 1869, and written in Paris on two octavo pages: "Since I know you're back in Paris, you're a daily remorse for me [...] I've sworn to finish my book by the end of next week." Written in the very last days of the drafting of L'Éducation sentimentale (begun in September 1864 and completed on May 16, 1869, thirteen days after the letter), it places its author in the final weeks of nearly five years of work, which led to one of Flaubert's major novels.

Émile Zola writes in a completely different context, that of the workshop in full effort. On September 14, 1884, from Médan, in the midst of writing Germinal, which he had started five months earlier, he addressed his publisher Charpentier: "What a hell of a book! It will keep me here until January." The novel would indeed be published in volume the following year, after writing that concluded in January 1885, exactly as Zola announced to his publisher.
Finally, the letter sent by André Breton to Jean Rousselot, poet and critic, on April 19, 1951, is a congratulatory note on the study Rousselot had dedicated to the poet Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz-Milosz. Founder of the Surrealist movement, Breton here salutes critical work carried out outside his own circle, a gesture of recognition between writers rather than a document of creation.

Three letters, three illustrious figures, three testimonies.

• How to authenticate a signed autograph letter?
  Some letters are perfectly documented. For others, an analysis of the handwriting, signature, and paper can clear up many doubts. Many fakes circulate.
• What does the mention L.A.S. mean in an antique bookstore catalog?
  L.A.S. means "lettre autographe signée" (signed autograph letter): the text is entirely written and signed by the author's hand, as opposed to a dictated or typed letter then simply signed.
• Does the content of a letter influence its value as much as its physical condition?
  Yes. A letter that documents a specific moment in the author's life, a letter from author to author (Hugo to Dumas, for example), or from the author to a close relative (Baudelaire to his mother), has much more value than a letter to an unidentified person.
• How can I get an autograph letter I own appraised?
  In addition to content analysis, the appraisal of an autograph letter requires an analysis of the paper and ink. Contact us at contact@librairie-koegui.frfor more information.