Lot n° 255
Estimation :
400 - 500
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 1 932EUR
ZOLA, Alexandrine (1839-1925),
wife of Emile Zola. Important set of 38 unpublished signed letters and autograph cards, all addressed to the lawyer and friend of naturalists Gabriel Thyébaut (1854-1922). 28 L.A.S. and 10 C.V.A.S. Paris, Médan, Pistoia and Mont -Dore, February I884 - January 1911. About 76 pp. in-8, in-12 or in-16 oblong. 25 envelopes kept.
About Zola's works: "Émile starts his last chapter, and he is very happy to see the end of 'Lourdes' coming. He will have finished in about ten days and towards the end of the month we will leave for Médan [...]". [13 June 1894]. She then evokes the friendly rupture between Zola and Céard, because of the Dreyfus affair: "You speak to me about Céard, my dear friend, and it is with a heavy heart that I answer to the passage of your letter [...] neither I nor my husband have done anything to him to explain his attitude towards us [...]". [February 25, 1894].
Numerous invitations to dine or to stay in Médan, addressed to Gabriel Thyébaut. Alexandrine Zola mentions her prestigious guests: Huysmans, Coppée, Jules Larat, Maurice de Fleury, the "baron" Henry Céard, Achille, Jacques and Abel Hermant, Fasquelle, etc. "Huysmans being rid of his novel, wants to be one of us" [March 25, 1887]. "The play of Hennique passing in Odéon, next Thursday, I am obliged to put back our dinner [...]". [4 March 1890].
Alexandrine Zola evokes Charpentier's stay at their home, the death of her husband, her sorrow, the sale of Médan and the pilgrimage organized in his honor, in this mythical house: "The pilgrimage of the fourth anniversary was marvelous. We had a lot of people not to move in this desolate garden, which comes back to life only for a few hours since the terrible catastrophe [...] I always think I die at each step when I go up to this study in which life has also gone, and whose inscription on the hood of the chimney alone remains: 'Nulla dies sine Linea' [Never a day without a line]. Alas, my dear friend followed him until the last day; and when I see the emptiness everywhere, I run away sorry not to have been able to keep all that, his workshop, the billiard table, our room, all, finally, which is still so full of him [...]". [October 7, 1806].
Two autographed passes from A. Zola, intended for the Thyébauts, on his visiting cards granting them the right to enter the Pantheon, where the body of Émile Zola had just been placed. Some letters are addressed to Mrs. Thyébaut or to their daughter.
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