Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 1
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 2
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 3
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 4
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 5
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 6
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 7
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 8
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914) - photo 9

Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914)

Lot 72
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
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ID 1108871
Lot 72 | Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914)
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 8 000
Alain-Fournier (pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, 1886-1914)
Autograph letter signed ('Henri') to 'Yvonne', 'Mardi matin 11 heures ½', [postmarked Bourg-la-Reine, 11 April 1905]
In French. Ten pages, 148 x 113mm, bifolia and a singleton. Envelope, addressed to 'Y.H. 13 / Bureau No 25 / Boulevard Saint-Germain / Paris'. Provenance: Sotheby's, 2 December 1994, lot 566.

Apparently the only surviving letter to 'the first Yvonne'. The letter, written by the 18 year old Alain-Fournier, then still a pupil at the Lycée Lakanal, is full of yearning and melancholy, but also mentioning his life at the lycée, including a speech before 60 classmates, games of football and rugby, the characters of his schoolmates, as well as a memory of Sunday mornings on the way to church with his mother – but always circling back to his obsessive love, 'il n'y a que nous, que notre amour'.

Mon Yvonne,

J'attendais presque qq. chose hier soir. – On dirait que tu avais deviné que ce soir là j'avais besoin de t'apercevoir, loin, heureuse et jolie, tard, dans ta chambre, au milieu des mousselines et des robes blanches – et m'écrivant, toute parfumée et lasse d'avoir dansé, que c'est moi que tu aimes, que c'est avec moi que tu as tourné tout le soir et que tu as gardé tous les parfums de tes cheveux, toute la gaieté de ton cœur pour me l'envoyer ce soir –

Merci, ma cherie. …

Mardi, dans les allées froides et le vent, toute l'après-midi grise et désolée, je n'ai désiré qu'une chose comme le lendemain près de toi, comme les jours atroces qui ont suivi: – mettre ma tête sur tes genoux, enfouir ma tête dans les plis de ta jupe, et rester là des heures, bercé, consolé – à ne plus savoir que toi, à ne plus sentir que toi, ta douceur, ton parfum, ta chaleur. A peine ma chérie, si ta voix, ta chère petite voix les faisait partir les idées de désespoir qui m'ont tant fait souffrir tous ces jours et qui me faisaient taire et souffrir même près de toi...

The recipient is one of two young women, both named Yvonne, who inspired the character of Yvonne de Galais, the dream-girl of Le Grand Meaulnes. The 'first Yvonne', the recipient of the present letter, is known only by her first name (and the first letter of her second, 'H.'): Alain-Fournier first saw her on a train journey in 1903 en route from Bourg-la-Reine to the Lycée Lakanal, and eventually approached her, and established a relationship in the face of his mother's disapproval, and a clandestine correspondence, of which this letter is apparently the only survival. The relationship seems to have ended shortly after this letter: on 1 June 1905 he met 'the second Yvonne', Yvonne de Quiévrecourt, on the steps of the Grand Palais, and she became the object of a more distant, unobtainable infatuation.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
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