BLOY Léon (1846-1917). Lot n° 14

Autograph MANUSCRIPT of his Diary, 1892-1917; 25 volumes, mostly in-8 (defects, several covers damaged, spines broken or missing, many leaves loose, edges chipped, paper fragile). Precious manuscript of Léon Bloy's Diary, in which he recorded 26 years of his life from day to day, and from which he drew the material for the eight volumes of his published Diary. From 1892 until October 20, 1917, that is to say two weeks before his death, Léon Bloy regularly kept his diary, meticulously recording, in diaries or almanacs, day after day, the slightest events of a personal or spiritual nature that marked out the painful existence of the "ungrateful beggar": His work as a writer, the birth of his children and their education, his epic moves and successive domiciles, his difficult existence, his constant worries about money, his friendships, his protectors, his violent angers and hatreds, his religious faith and doubts, his bouts of mysticism, his reflections on the events of the day and his contemporaries, etc. He copied or pasted numerous letters sent or received, money order coupons, press clippings... He lists, generally at the end of the volumes, the letters sent and received, as well as his accounts. These diaries are filled in with black ink, with notes or lines in red, blue or green pencil. Léon Bloy will use them as material for the eight volumes of his Journal: Le Mendiant ingrat, Mon journal, Quatre ans de captivité à Cochons-surMarne, L'Invendable, Le Vieux de la Montagne, Le Pèlerin de l'Absolu, Au seuil de l'Apocalypse, and (posthumously) La Porte des Humbles. I. January 27-December 31, 1892, in an Agenda-Buvard du Bon Marché 1892 (29 x 19 cm); after the minute of a letter to Louise Read (January 27), the first entry is for February 10; the diary is kept thereafter without interruption. The entry for February 14 reads: "Impossible to go to the Lazarists. Visit from Landry at ten o'clock. Lively discussion about d'Aurevilly's tomb & Miss Read. Axiom. I must always be wrong & I always see wrong, whatever I do & whatever I say. Landry will not hesitate to sacrifice me to Mlle. Read, perhaps even to Huysmans, whose present opinion of me, according to the testimony of the said Landry, is as follows. "Bloy is a dry brain." "He is a rhetorician & nothing more" ". In July, unable to pay his rent, Bloy left the rue Blomet for Antony; in July he published Le Salut par les Juifs, and resumed his collaboration with Gil Blas at the end of September. II. January-December 1893, in a black leather diary for 1893 (17 x 12 cm). Bloy finishes and publishes Sueur de sang; he leaves Antony for the rue d'Alésia in Paris. III. January-December 1894, in desk diary for 1894 (21 x 14 cm). Birth of his second child, André; Bloy, having taken the defense of Laurent Tailhade attacked by Edmond Lepelletier, loses his position at Gil Blas, and falls back into poverty; publication of his pamphlet Léon Bloy devant les cochons (Leon Bloy in front of the pigs) and Histoires désobligeantes (Disobliging stories). IV. January-December 1895, in Office diary for 1895 (21 x 14 cm). Terrible year: two moves; death of his son André (January 26), birth and death of Pierre, his third child (September 24-December 10); a tombola, organized by Captain Bigand-Kaire, comes to his rescue. V. January-December 1896, in a small souvenir diary 1896 (8.5 x 5.5 cm). Few pages written. Bloy resumes writing La Femme pauvre. Let us quote the entry of June 13: "Poor woman / Continuation of black misery / Laffond does not answer". VI. January-December 1897, in an Almanach Hachette. Small popular encyclopaedia of practical life (19,5 x 12,5 cm). Birth of his daughter Madeleine; publication of La Femme pauvre. VII. January-October 1898, in an Almanach Hachette (19.5 x 12.5 cm); very short text; interruption after October 31. Publication of The Ungrateful Beggar. VIII. January-December 1899, in an Agenda du Commerce, de l'Industrie et des Besoins Journaliers (22 x 14 cm). Stay in Denmark, in Kolding. IX. 1900-1901, in a school notebook (22 x 13 cm). End of the stay in Denmark; return to Paris (June 13, 1900) and break with Henry de Groux; move to Lagny; publication of the Son of Louis XVI and the pamphlet against Zola, Je m'accuse... In 1901, friendship with René Martineau; stay at Pouliguen in August. X. January-December 1902, in an Agenda du Commerce, de l'Industrie et des Besoins Journaliers renamed "Memoranda" by Léon Bloy (22 x 14 cm). Publication of the Exegesis of Commonplaces. XI. January-December 1903, in an Agenda du Commerce, de l'Industrie et des Besoins Journaliers renamed "Memoranda" by Léon Bloy (22 x 14 cm). Publication of the Last Columns of the Church. XII. January-December 1904, in a Diary of Commerce, Industry and Daily Needs