ROUFF, Marcel. Autograph manuscript: "Chateaubriand" [1928]. - Lot 279

ROUFF, Marcel. Autograph manuscript: "Chateaubriand" [1928]. A beautiful, complete manuscript of the biography of the great Romantic author, preserved in a signed full binding. 167 handwritten pages, numbered on the recto sides of pale blue in-4 folios with midnight blue borders, and 6 ruled sheets. The first two sheets feature four postcards depicting views of the Château de la Vallée-aux-Loups and a printed brochure introducing the residence where Chateaubriand lived (5 pp., in-4). The entire volume is mounted on tabs in a red morocco binding, with a ribbed spine, gold fillet in the borders of the covers adorned with a central coat of arms, and an interior border featuring a decorative frame composed of gold and dotted fillets. Binding by G. Chiroux. Page 124 is inserted after page 127. Complete manuscript of the *Vie de Chateaubriand*, published in 1929 by Gallimard. Marcel Rouff (1877–1936) wrote a deeply engaging biography, driven by his admiration for this “god” among men of letters. Completed in August 1928, as attested by a note at the bottom of the last page, the text—written in fine black or blue ink—is extensively corrected and annotated in the left margin. It is divided as follows: - Introduction - Part I: The Apprenticeship of a God - Part II: In Search of Oneself - Part III: The Vicissitudes of the Superhuman / The God and the Scholars - Part IV: The Writer’s Twilight, the Politician’s Dawn - Part V: The Great Era - Part VI: The Apogee - Part VII: The Paths of Twilight Included are: a lovely dedication by René Benjamin on a half-title page (Les Augures de Genève): “To Marcel Rouff, who has written a very fine book on Chateaubriand” ((1 folio, in-1”); a collection of newspaper clippings (from the 1960s and 1970s) relating to Chateaubriand. Excellent manuscript, perfectly preserved and well bound.