The Aristophil Sales Showcase New Manuscript Treasures

The Aristophil collection , which boasts great names in cultural history, is still coming up at auction. "Again?" sigh some professionals. Yes, but the epic’s final chapter, set for 2022, will complete the dispersal of the tens of thousands of documents purchased and then resold by Aristophil in undivided ownership to collectors before its judicial liquidation in 2015. These auctions, the 45th and 46th authorized by the court, deserve special mention. The first lot of the literature sale, operated by the Aguttes auction house in Neuilly, will begin with an extremely rare copy in good condition of Case d’Armons : 21 poems written and published, at the Front by Guillaume Apollinaire in spring 1915. The edition of 25 copies was handwritten and printed with army equipment. Apollinaire’s autograph changes signaling the birth of calligrams make each one different (€50,000/60,000). Another treasure is the copy of Lélia that its author George Sand gave Alfred de Musset early in their…