Beschreibung:

PROUST, Marcel (1871-1922). Lightly revised galley proof, numbered 15, of an 8-column passage in "Combray", the first part of A la recherche du temps perdu: Du côté de chez Swann . Mayenne (Normandy): Charles Colin [for Marcel Proust and Bernard Grasset (Paris)], 12 April 1913 (printer's date-stamp). Oblong broadsheet (380 x 555mm), printed on one side, 8 columns measuring 139 x 86mm each, 37 lines (the same type-area dimensions as the edition pages), proof paper, roman type (75mm). UPWARDS OF 30 AUTOGRAPH CORRECTIONS, including a 6-line revision. Mounted at edges on a thick sheet of modern white paper. FINE CONDITION. Provenance: Marcel Proust by bequest to his brother -- Dr Robert Proust -- private collections Three identical proof copies were pulled of this galley, all surviving. One was extensively revised by Proust, with lengthy insertions and four béquets (paste-ons and overlays), as well as column-shifting; he returned it to the publisher Grasset for further setting and proofing by Colin (included in the set offered in this sale, see lot 73). Another copy belongs to the entirely uncorrected set in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, NAF 16754. The present lightly corrected copy was retained by Proust and historically belongs to the remaining fragments of "Combray" in BnF set NAF 16753 (four complete and three partial sheets). These columns are mostly concerned with young Marcel's admiration of the writer Bergotte, for whom the principal model was Anatole France. Col. 1, incipit : liste qui avait déjà été, sans que je m'en rendisse compte, la cause du plaisir que je prenais à lire Bergotte. Corrected galley proofs of A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs are widely dispersed and occasionally appear at auction, but proof sheets of Proust's other novels in the cycle are OF THE GREATEST RARITY on the market.