MONNIER Adrienne Bibliothèque particulière d’Adrienne Monnier. Éditions originales et grands papiers d’auteurs contemporains.

First edition, the only one published, of this sales catalog from Adrienne Monnier’s library. The copy belonging to Louis Giraud-Badin, auction expert.

A Parisian bookseller who reinvented her profession, Adrienne Monnier opened her bookshop in 1915, which soon became very successful. Renamed La Maison des Amis des Livres in 1918, the shop was not just a place to sell books, Monnier also set up a lending system to help less fortunate readers. 

Gradually, she turned her focus towards contemporary authors and contributed to promoting an entire generation of writers, not only by selling their books but also by hosting literary evenings. Adrienne Monnier was the archetype of the modern woman of letters. It was under her aegis that writers such as Paul Valery, Jules Romains, Léon-Paul Fargue, Pierre Reverdy, Paul Claudel, Blaise Cendrars and Paul Léautaud became key figures in the Parisian literary scene.

Always driven by the desire to introduce a young generation of authors to the French public, she founded the magazine Le Navire d’Argent in 1925. It was this venture that led her into debt and forced her to sell her books. 

She recalled this episode in an interview with Geneviève Bonnefoi in 1951  : « Ce fut, hélas, une expérience malheureuse. Il n’eut que douze numéros et me laissa ruinée, obligée de vendre ma bibliothèque. ». (G. Bonnefoi, « Adrienne Monnier abandonne sa librairie mais ne quitte pas la rue de l’Odéon », Combat, 28 juin 1951, p.4.)

Monnier is reluctantly selling her library, and the announcement of the sale surprised the literary world of Paris at the time. She explained her decision to Charensol: « C’est pour conserver mon indépendance absolue que j’ai consenti à me séparer de mes livres. Ils sont pourtant ce que j’aime le mieux au monde et jamais je ne les ai tant aimés » (Charensol, « Pourquoi, Mademoiselle, vendez-vous vos livres ? », Les Nouvelles littéraires, 15 mai 1926, p.2.)

The same article highlights the unwavering support of his writer friends, who even offer her new inscriptions.

The sale took place on 14 and 15 May 1926, and the catalogue was compiled by Monnier herself. According to Le Bulletin du Bibliophile, which published not only the results but also an opinion on the bids, the sale was moderately successful. However, some items achieved remarkable results, including the manuscript of Saint Léger’s Anabase (no. 335), which sold for 4,000 francs, probably to the Countess of Fels; La Ballade de la Geôle de Wilde sold for 2,650 francs, and the first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, inscribed ‘To Adrienne Monnier’, sold for 2,490 francs. 

The latter is particularly important for literary history. Indeed, it was thanks to Adrienne Monnier, but above all her partner Sylvia Beach, owner of Shakespeare and Co. bookshop, that James Joyce succeeded, after many twists and turns, in publishing the first edition of Ulysses in Paris in 1922.

As this copy belonged to Giraud-Badin, it gives us an insight into the sale itself.  

The catalogue contains several types of notes, both on the printed pages and on the interleaved sheets. The pencil notes often correspond to the sale results, the orders taken beforehand and a few names of the successful bidders.

On the interleaved pages, other notes appear in blue marker, including the names of buyers and sometimes Giraud-Badin’s code.

Thanks to this copy, we know that Lardenchet, Lambert, Millot, Mrs Meeking, Chapin, Gradis, the Countess of Fels, Bloch, the Count of Vasselot, G. Thomas, B. Harrison, Albert Henraux, Sanson, Monod, Davis, and Blaizot were among the buyers. 

This copy encapsulates the spirit of literary life in Saint Germain des Près during the interwar period. It bears witness to the profession of bookseller from two perspectives, not only through Monnier’s collection but also through Giraud-Badin’s notes. Behind the pages, one can read the entirety of the literary relationships of the time. 

Titlepiece rubbed.