The Property of
THE FRENCH INSTITUTE/ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
SAND, GEORGE (pen name of AMANDINE-AURORE LUCILE DUDEVANT, neé DUPIN). Autograph manuscript signed ("GSand" at end), entitled "La Reverie á Paris," published in Paris Guide, 1867, a working manuscript with numerous revisions and deletions, some lines written in margins, n.p., n.d. [Paris, 1867]. 38 pages, 8vo, in ink on rectos only, one leaf inserted on a stub, crimson straight-grained morocco gilt, by Riviere, spine and corners very slightly rubbed, cloth protective case.
Details
SAND, GEORGE (pen name of AMANDINE-AURORE LUCILE DUDEVANT, neé DUPIN). Autograph manuscript signed ("GSand" at end), entitled "La Reverie á Paris," published in Paris Guide, 1867, a working manuscript with numerous revisions and deletions, some lines written in margins, n.p., n.d. [Paris, 1867]. 38 pages, 8vo, in ink on rectos only, one leaf inserted on a stub, crimson straight-grained morocco gilt, by Riviere, spine and corners very slightly rubbed, cloth protective case.
Sand's contribution to the Paris Guide, part 2, "La Vie." The collection featured essays on the city and its features written by "le principaux écrivains de la France" (including Saint-Beauve, Theophile Gautier, Jules Renan, Theodore de Banville and others), plus engravings by well-known artists (Felicien Rops, Daumier and others). Sand's essay, cast in the form of a letter to Louis Ulbach ("Excellent ami"), is a lyrical elegy of the joys of walking in Paris and a reflection on the specifically Parisian sources of these pleasures, its parks, its population, the quality of its skies, and the indefinable quality of the atmosphere that heightens the sensations of the ambler. In it she remarks on the changes wrought in the city following Haussmann's piercing of the grands boulevards, concluding that in spite of their lack of aesthetic appeal ("too straight for the artistic eye"), the boulevards have the advantage of permitting one to amble dreamily, without being forced to ask directions at every street corner. She praises the parks of Paris and the new vogue for imitating nature, while stressing that one must not confuse this "decorative" manmade nature with the real thing. Complaining mildly about the dangers and inconveniences of the ever-increasing traffic, she states that this is only a concern because everyone is in a hurry in the "new society," "a time, when one says in Paris as in America, 'Time is money'!" There are still some old fogies who say "Time is friendhship, it is love, it is devotion, it is duty, it is happiness. No one will pay attention to these outmoded creatures..."
Sand's contribution to the Paris Guide, part 2, "La Vie." The collection featured essays on the city and its features written by "le principaux écrivains de la France" (including Saint-Beauve, Theophile Gautier, Jules Renan, Theodore de Banville and others), plus engravings by well-known artists (Felicien Rops, Daumier and others). Sand's essay, cast in the form of a letter to Louis Ulbach ("Excellent ami"), is a lyrical elegy of the joys of walking in Paris and a reflection on the specifically Parisian sources of these pleasures, its parks, its population, the quality of its skies, and the indefinable quality of the atmosphere that heightens the sensations of the ambler. In it she remarks on the changes wrought in the city following Haussmann's piercing of the grands boulevards, concluding that in spite of their lack of aesthetic appeal ("too straight for the artistic eye"), the boulevards have the advantage of permitting one to amble dreamily, without being forced to ask directions at every street corner. She praises the parks of Paris and the new vogue for imitating nature, while stressing that one must not confuse this "decorative" manmade nature with the real thing. Complaining mildly about the dangers and inconveniences of the ever-increasing traffic, she states that this is only a concern because everyone is in a hurry in the "new society," "a time, when one says in Paris as in America, 'Time is money'!" There are still some old fogies who say "Time is friendhship, it is love, it is devotion, it is duty, it is happiness. No one will pay attention to these outmoded creatures..."