Benjamin PÉRET. Lot n° 240

No place or date [ca. 1924]. Signed autograph manuscript of 28 pages mounted on tabs and bound in an in-4 volume : white vellum à la Bradel (binding circa 1950). Precious autograph manuscript, complete. Written on sheets of various sizes - most of them large in-4 - several of which are on the back of the letterheads of Parisian cafés, restaurants and brasseries - Café Dupont, La Rotonde, Excelsior, Café Rougemont - the manuscript is complete: it was not written continuously, but at various dates. Presenting several dozens of corrections, it offers variants with the printed text, mainly stylistic variants which do not alter the meaning. We note the first line of the poem at the end: "Hirondelle hirondelle de mes couilles", which became "de mes rouilles" in the printed version - probably for fear of censorship and as a wink to the Rouilles encagées. A landmark work of Surrealism, La Brebis galante appeared in bits and pieces but was not published in its entirety as a volume until 1949, illustrated by Max Ernst. Autograph letter signed at the foot of the first page: To Mr. Yves Breton To try to strengthen & increase his taste for Surrealism. In all sympathy Benjamin Péret 16 Nov. 1950 Notary in Avignon, Yves Breton was an important collector of surrealist writers and 20th century poetry, notably René Char. His library was dispersed in 1954. At the beginning, on a sheet of paper headed "Solution surréaliste" from the Galerie Nina Dausset, La Dragonne, André Breton noted: La Brebis galante ? A true surrealist manuscript: GRAND CRU 1924. Automatic writing in its most beautiful schoolgirl poses (see La Révolution surréaliste nº 9-10) Here it is the pen (of the kingfisher) that guides the hand André Breton November 1950 To Mr Yves Breton with all sympathy AB The double dispatch, from the author of the manuscript and from the leader of the Surrealist movement, underlines the complementary nature of the two writers. As Claude Courtot remarks: "Breton and Péret fill a mutual gap. From an identity of intellectual and emotional views, on the same ground, each develops particular elements to form a common, complete, perfect fruit." A founding member of Surrealism, Benjamin Péret (1899-1959) was the one who never betrayed its spirit: his correspondence with André Breton, peppered with virulent attacks on former companions, illustrates his unwavering reliability. "A true Surrealist manuscript: Grand Cru 1924" (André Breton)