BRETON André (1896-1966). Lot n° 20

MANUSCRIT autograph "André Breton", Mont de Piété (1913-1919); 31 pages in-4, in a schoolboy notebook with blue paper cover, half red morocco folder, case. Precious complete manuscript of André Breton's first book. Mont de Piété was published in June 1919 by Au Sans Pareil, with two drawings by André Derain. This collection consists of 15 poems, which Breton has severely chosen among all those he had written since 1913; the first ones feel strongly the influence of Mallarmé; an increasing complexity in the last poems is combined with metaphorical (Forêt- Noire on an episode of Rimbaud's life), typographical or pre-surrealist researches (Le Corset Mystère, composed with the help of sentences taken from a newspaper). These poems are : Façon, Rieuse, D'or vert, L'An suave (À Madame Marie Laurencin), Hymne (Août 19141), Âge (À Léon-Paul Fargue, 19 février 1916), Coqs de Bruyère, Décembre, André Derain, Forêt-Noire ("Rimbaud parle"), Pour Lafcadio, Monsieur V, Clé de Sol (À Pierre Reverdy), Une maison peu solide, Le Corset Mystère. The manuscript, carefully copied by Breton with blue ink, is very carefully prepared for printing. Provenance: Colonel Daniel SICKLES (sale Surrealism, 23-24 March 1981, n°39). Attached is the first edition: Mont de Piété (1913-1919) with two unpublished drawings by André DERAIN (Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1919); in-12, paperback (cover detached), folder, case. First edition. N°1 of the first 10 copies on Japon printed especially for André Derain. Attached is the autograph poem Décembre, dedicated to Guillaume Apollinaire (1 page and a quarter in-4); plus an original photograph representing André Derain on a boat (14,5 x 9 cm).