Victor Margueritte, Barbusse, Pelletier, Herriot... - Ensemble de 68 lettres et cartes autographes signées à Victor Margueritte - "La Garçonne" - 1922

Set of 68 letters and autograph cards relating to La Garçonne, the novel by Victor Margueritte published by Flammarion in July 1922. The pieces are dated July 1922 to January 1925.

The collection includes 66 pieces addressed to Victor Margueritte, mostly written between July 1922 and February 1923. They accompany the publication of the novel, its success, the controversy it provoked, and the removal of the author from the Order of the Legion of Honour (December 1922). Two autograph letters from Victor Margueritte himself addressed to the lawyer and critic Jean Ernest-Charles are added.

Composition:

- 56 autograph letters signed
- 4 typed letters signed (Henri Barbusse, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Pierre Bonardi, Pierre La Mazière)
- 6 cards: autographs business cards, postcard, signed autograph cards
- 2 autograph letter cards by Victor Margueritte to Jean Ernest-Charles: one signed, on the letterhead paper of Le Clos de la Madrague in Sainte-Maxime; the other initialed “V. M.”. Both carry their address and postage stamp.
- 1 envelope

Main correspondents:

- Henri Barbusse: signed typed letter on Clarté, Aumont letterhead, August 23, 1922.
- Madeleine Pelletier: autograph letter signed “Doctoresse Pelletier,” on letterhead “Docteur A. M. Pelletier, médecin des P.T.T.,” Paris, October 12, 1922, 2 pages.
- Édouard Herriot: autograph business card initialed, bearing his name as mayor of Lyon and deputy for the Rhône.
- Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: signed typed letter on villa Fontana Rosa letterhead, Menton, January 2, 1925, with an autograph correction. He thanks for sending a book and does not explicitly mention La Garçonne.
- Charles Richet: autograph letter signed, on island Ribaud, Giens letterhead.
- Joseph Delteil: autograph letter signed, Paris, September 18, 1922, 2 pages.
- Henri-René Lenormand (attribution): autograph letter signed, 3 place Victor-Hugo, Paris.
- Frantz Jourdain: autograph letter signed on letterhead, Paris, July 16, 1922.
- Pierre Mortier: autograph letter signed on Montanglaust, Coulommiers letterhead, August 19, 1922.
- Letters from Maurice Magre, Émile Blémont, Marcel Batilliat, Lucien Besnard, Michel Corday, Charles Méré, Maximilienne Heller (Constantine), Maurice Duplay, Edmond Rocher (letterhead of École Estienne), Camille Ferdy (letterhead of Le Petit Provençal), Léon Riotor (letterhead of the Paris City Council), Gaston Picard, Pierre Bonardi (letterhead of Éditions de la Sirène), Pierre La Mazière, Henri Broca, Jean-Michel Renaitour, René Valfort, Siméon Fabre (Sainte-Maxime) and Paul Paillard-Mérat (letterhead of the Rouen Socialist Group, S.F.I.O.). One letter is attributed to Lucien Le Foyer.
- About thirty letters from readers across France and abroad (Neuchâtel, Brussels, Constantine). Among them is a typed letter from the North, a music teacher from Grenoble, a mother and her fifteen-year-old daughter, and a former combatant.

The letters respond to the publication of the novel and the controversy it provoked. They mention Téry’s article in L’Œuvre, attacks by Clément Vautel, and the author’s removal from the Legion of Honour. They also include plans for a theatrical adaptation, invitations to give talks in Rouen and Bordeaux, autograph requests, and a request for a preface.

Provenance: former stock of the bookstore Les Autographes, Thierry Bodin, expert before the Paris Court of Appeal. The lot is kept in its original binder with the bookstore letterhead, with the handwritten heading: “Victor Margueritte. 65 letters and cards addressed to him. 1922. Correspondence relating to La Garçonne.”

- Dimensions: Folder: 24 x 32 cm
- Condition: Good state of preservation. See photos for more details.

Careful shipment in a rigid, waterproof carton.