Details
PROUST, Marcel. Two autograph letters signed to Lucien Daudet, the first n.p. [Paris], n.d. [28 January 1914], replying to a letter, 'Votre lettre m'a rappelé mes jours de l'an d'autrefois quand Maman me demandait ce que je voulais et que je répondais: "Donne-moi ton affection". Et Maman me disait: "Mais petit imbécile, tu auras tout de même mon affection, je te demande quel objet matériel tu veux"'; pointing out that he did not ask Lucien what material keepsake he would like in order not to leave him any thing immaterial, and elaborating on this theme; concluding that he is already grateful enough to be able to forgive Lucien for refusing this favour [i.e. of accepting a gift], referring also to misunderstandings that stem from his poor health, 4 pages, 4to (on pale grey paper); the second n.p. [Paris], n.d. [1914 ?], saying that he expects him at six o'clock, and if he has not arrived by a quarter to seven he will take it that he could not come and will commence his inhalation. He will send word if he is better again by ten, or send a note by taxi the next day, or the following, 'Pardon de cet abus de vous. Et tendrement à vous Marcel', one page, 8vo (blank integral leaf).
In a postscript to the first letter Proust asks if Lucien has received Maurice Rostand's article [a flattering review of Du Côté de chez Swann], and mentions the death of the Abbé Gardey (to whose illness he refers in the letter of 25 January in which he first raises the subject of a gift for Lucien). Daudet recalled Proust's material generosity in his introduction to Soixante Lettres. Early in their friendship he had presented him with an 18th-century ivory box, engraved with the words 'A l'amitié'. Daudet noted that the second letter was typically Proustian, for all Proust's friends were familiar with his notes delivered by taxi. Kolb, XIII, 83; Cahiers, V (VIII and VI). (2)
In a postscript to the first letter Proust asks if Lucien has received Maurice Rostand's article [a flattering review of Du Côté de chez Swann], and mentions the death of the Abbé Gardey (to whose illness he refers in the letter of 25 January in which he first raises the subject of a gift for Lucien). Daudet recalled Proust's material generosity in his introduction to Soixante Lettres. Early in their friendship he had presented him with an 18th-century ivory box, engraved with the words 'A l'amitié'. Daudet noted that the second letter was typically Proustian, for all Proust's friends were familiar with his notes delivered by taxi. Kolb, XIII, 83; Cahiers, V (VIII and VI). (2)