(Corti) ELUARD, Paul: Poetry and Truth. 1942.... Lot 48

(Corti) ELUARD, Paul: Poetry and Truth. 1942. Complete autograph manuscript by Paul ELUARD of the 17 poems of this famous collection of poems of struggle and resistance against the German occupation. The manuscript is presented in the following way under a double page with on the first sheet titled: "Poetry and Truth. 1942" and signature in ink of Paul Eluard, in the lower margin: "Freedom. On the lower slopes. Write faster. Sunday afternoon. The last night". The poems are then on different sheets of formats in-12° to in-4°: - "Freedom". 2 sheets in-4° in black ink on strong laid paper, recto signed by P. Eluard in fine, complete of its 21 quatrains. The poem presents two erasures. Of this famous poem, it was known until now only 3 copies. Here is a 4th one which seems to be situated between the first two preserved in institutions (Museum of Art and History of Saint-Denis and Museum of the Resistance of Champigny) and the one presented in 2009 by the House Millon Cornette de Saint-Cyr. The second leaf is missing at the lower right corner without any damage to the text. - "On the Lower Slopes": 9 leaves in-8° square on old laid paper. 1st leaf with the title follows the 7 poems handwritten in black ink: - As low as silence; - First step. The voice of another; - The role of women; - Patience; - A spotless fire; - Soon; The halt of hours. "Sunday afternoon" on a squared in-4° sheet, black ink, with 8 erasures. A small variant with the final version of the original edition at the 3rd line, here "s'enlaçaient les galops défendus de chevaux maigres" for "s'enlaçaient les galops inlassables de chevaux maigres". Under a double page initially titled "Morality" crossed out for "Ecris plus vite", are 7 large leaves in-12° on watermarked paper "Japon Aussedat" for the 7 poems: - Doubt of the crime (with corrections); - Couvre-feu; -Dressé par la famine; - Un loup (with correction); - Un loup; - Du dehors; - Du dedans (initially titled Retraite), with two corrections. This general title "Ecris plus vite" appears in the Revue Messages 1942, book II (Œuvres complètes 1; Pléiade p. 1609). Follows in fine 7 leaves in-4° of which 6 on "Japon Aussedat" paper and 1 squared leaf for the poem: "La dernière nuit" (with 5 corrections). Volume 1 of Paul Eluard's complete works mentions an autograph manuscript of this poem in the 1954 Surrealism and Contemporary Poetry catalog (p. 1605). EXCEPTIONAL SET whose presence in José Corti's library is doubly and strongly symbolic: a symbol of Eluard's and Corti's involvement in the Resistance and a symbol of their friendship.