"l'art cinématographique"
6 autograph letters signed, 3 autograph lettercards signed, and 1 autograph visting card.
Various formats. Altogether 9 pp.
€ 800.00
Charming collection including letters addressed to the writer and journalist Hugues Le Roux, the poet and playwright Maurice Magre, and the poet Édouard Dujardin.
The earliest dated lettercard from 22 January 1912 is to thank Hugues le Roux for condolences: "Merci, du fond du cœur de votre sympathie. Il me touche et m'émeut profondément et je vous serre la main très cordialement".
A letter to an unnamed critic or scholar from 19 January 1919 concerns poems about churches. Régnier first identifies a poem of his that the recipient had alluded to as "Sponsalia" from his "Épisodes" that ends with an "evocation of stained-glass church windows". He then informs the recipient that he could not find any poems on churches "among the verses" of his wife Marie de Heredia, joking that her "Muse visited temples more often than cathedrals".
On 28 February Régnier thanks Maurice Magre for an invitation to a reading that he will be unable to attend, due to urgent work: "Je vous remercie bien sincèrement de votre aimable pensée et j'aurais un grand plaisir à écouter votre pièce mais je ne puis guère sortir le soir en ce moment étant retenu chez moi par un travail urgent [...]".
In an interesting letter to an unidentified Mademoiselle, probably a journalist, from 11 August 1922, Régnier declines to participate in a survey on the future of the cinema due to his lack of knowledge, while stating his conviction that the cinema will not replace theatre: "J'ai trop peu fréquenté les cinémas pour pouvoir répondre à votre questionnaire et je connais trop mal l'état présent de l'art cinématographique pour pouvoir préjuger son avenir. Je ne crois pas néanmoins qu'il puisse remplacer le théâtre [...]".
In 1925, Édouard Dujardin launched a petition to have one of his plays performed at the Comédie française. In two letters from 12 December 1925, Régnier agrees to sign the petition and asks for it to be brought to him the following Thursday. In the longer letter, he also underlines that he cannot "present it to the Minister", as he follows a personal rule "never to visit any minister or ministry": "Je signerai très volontiers la pétition que m'a adressée votre comité, mais il ne m'est pas possible de le 'porter au Ministre' car je ne vais jamais chez aucun ministre et dans aucun ministère. C'est une règle de conduite que j'ai depuis longtemps adoptée [...]".
Three letters from June and December 1935 concerning the Prix Lasserre of the Académie française were probably addressed to Dujardin, the winner of 1936. On 22 June, Régnier promises the recipient to support him within the commission. On 5 December he cancels a meeting and announces that the commission will soon convene; finally, on 10 December, he informs him that the prize was awarded to him, despite Régnier's absence from the jury meeting.
Well preserved.
