Paris, Gallimard, 1995.
Large 8vo of 714 pp., (22) pp. Preserved in its original wrappers, as issued. Uncut.
236 x 145 mm. Thickness : 7 cm.
First edition of this collection of letters by Marguerite Yourcenar, one of only 62 numbered copies on Holland laid- paper, the only deluxe copies.
Copy n°46.
« This very first anthology of Marguerite Yourcenar’s letters enables to measure the force of her engagement to the world and has many posthumous surprises. Intermittent diary, the correspondence reaches its three main functions: support the woman out of her work, support the author in her work, to be a « work ». Daily self-portrait or exercise of one self’s own knowledge, the ‘Lettres à ses amis et quelques autres’ tell the intimacy of the exiled at Mount Desert Island, or of the traveler that makes the « tour of the prison », from the first childish letter to the months before her death. Transmission belt between the woman of flesh and the woman of pen, these letters will not disappoint those who are above all interested in the production secrets, the work backstage. They will revive for Marguerite Yourcenar’s readers old reading pleasure, renewed by a literary genre where she was not expected but where she will be recognized. » (Preface)
« Marguerite Yourcenar would become one of these ‘giants’ that are the writers considered as classic while living » (Dictionnaire des auteurs, IV, 732).
Magnificent deluxe copy, preserved untrimmed and uncut, as published.
