[CELINE] Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE (1894-1961). - Lot 224

[CELINE] Louis-Ferdinand CÉLINE (1894-1961). Double carbon copy of the manuscript of Nord with autograph corrections and additions; 1565 pages in-4 numbered, in 6 brick-red cardboard folders with flaps. Important duplicate of the manuscript of Nord, a testimony to Céline's working method. Céline wrote Nord from spring 1957 to the end of 1959. A sequel to D'un château l'autre, Nord tells the story of Céline's epic journey through bombed-out Germany in an attempt to reach Denmark, with his wife Lili and their cat Bébert, in the company of "la Vigue", the actor Robert Le Vigan, and their stay at the manor of Zornhorf (actually Kränzlin). The novel was published by Gallimard in 1960. For his last novels, Céline had taken the habit of slipping a carbon paper under his manuscript, to keep a duplicate, to which he could refer while the manuscript was being typed, and on which he could make corrections. The present Nord carbon copy conforms (except for the corrections) to the final manuscript (former Bolloré collection) on which Marie Canavaggia prepared the typescript used for the edition. It bears the names of the real people and places evoked by Céline (which will be modified after a trial). On white, cream or water green paper, this duplicate, in blue, purple or black carbon, has been reworked by Celine with a blue ballpoint pen, either to complete letters or words that were not properly traced (the copy is sometimes very pale and barely legible), or to correct his text or make additions. The manuscript is divided into 45 numbered sequences of unequal length, the leaves of which are pinned, and paginated continuously: 1) 1-2, 2) 3-4, 3) 5 [p. 6 is missing], 4) 7-29, 5) 30-37, 6) 38-51, 6bis) 52-91, 7) 92-98, 8) 100-104, 9) 105-115, 10) 116-281, 11) 282-295, 12) 296-356, 13) 357-381, 14) 382-464, 15)465-476, 16) 477-489, 17) 490-597, 18) 598-761, 19) 762-767, 20) 768-786, 21) 787-846, 22) 847-851, 23) 852-904, 24) 905-912, 25) 913-945, 26) 946-954, 27) 955-1014, 28) 1015-1046, 29) 1047-1058, 30) 1059-1069, 31) 1070-1085, 32) 1086-1126, 33) 1127-1141, 34) 1142-1145, 35) 1147-1172, 36) 1173-1229, 37) 1230-1256, 38) 1257-1283, 39) 1284-1351, 40) 1352-1358, 41) 1359-1394, 42) 1395-1410, 43) 1411-1440, 44) 1441-1565. It is filed in six cardboard folders with flaps, three of which bear the sequence numbers in Celine's handwriting. On the first folder, Céline transcribed this quatrain by Théophile Gautier: "Tandis qu'à leurs oeuvres perverses/Les hommes courent, haletants/Mars qui rit malgré les averses/Prepare en secret le printemps", and these two (inaccurate) verses by Victor Hugo: "Ces choses là sont rudes/et pour être compris demandent des études"; and, among a few others, the word "Caravanserai" (perhaps a draft title). On the back of the second folder, we note this sentence: "TV will form the mind as the rocket will simplify the body". Here are some examples of autograph corrections: p. 1, "sacred" corrected to "hideous"; p. 2, 3 lines added at the end of the 1st sequence: "- Shut up! they had ten percent of volunteers in the galleys!... you are one of them!"; p. 56, addition: "of roses"; p. 489, correction: "us and Neuruppin"; p. 762, correction: "I knew"; p. 766, addition: "at the sea, in the mountains,"; p. 768, addition: "by provinces and valleys in pipettes and levies"; p. 773, addition: "his famous lunch"; p. 774, "pure" corrected to "virtuous"; p. 853, "nothing to complain about at all" corrected to "not to complain"; p. 909, "impossible" corrected to "very obnoxious"; p. 1034, added: "his hat brushed the ground"; p. 1126, added: "more 'raised' the slightest folds"; p. 1404, added: "they follow the coffins"; etc.