A cache of passionate letters and works documenting a once-secret love between one of the greatest novelists of his time, Marcel Proust (1871-1922), and the eminent composer Reynaldo Hahn (1874- 1947), have realised €750,000 at Sotheby’s Paris. Largely unseen, they have impeccable provenance, having coming to sale direct from Proust’s family. Highlights included unpublished proof copies of his greatest works, Proust’s famous footnotes describing his disagreements with Ruskin and the large collection of 138 letters from the publisher Gaston Gallimard to Proust. The collection shed a new light on Proust through 70 lots of literary manuscripts, letters and books with envois, constituting a genuine biography. The top lot of the archive was a very early draft of one of the finest passages from Côté de chez Swann, describing the hero`s walk along the Vivonne (lot 160, €132,500). One of the great discoveries of thi
|
