Collection of Marcel Proust papers, 1870-1950 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Collection of Marcel Proust papers, 1870-1950

ID: 01/01/MSS00045

Primary Creator: Proust, Marcel (1871-1922)

Extent: 12.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:

Series 1: Madame Robert Proust gathering of Marcel Proust materials (acquired through Henri Lefebvre)

Series 2: Proust to Bibesco (Proust 1)

Series 3: Proust and Hauser Correspondence (Proust 2 and 2A)

-Subseries 1: LH (Hauser to Proust--Proust 2)

-Subseries 2: Hauser (Proust to Hauser--Proust 2A)

Series 4: Proust to Grandjean, Lauris, and others (Proust 3)

Series 5: Proust to Goyau, Daudet, Montesquiou-Fezensac, and others (Proust 4)

Series 6: Correspondence to Proust (Proust 5)

Series 7: Items by Proust (Proust 6-Proust 86)

Series 8: Montesquiou-Fezensac to Proust (Montesquiou 2-6)

Series 9: Correspondence from Walter Berry to Marcel Proust (Proust 87)

Series 10: Additional Accruals (Proust 88-93)

-Subseries 1: Correspondence with Blanche, Daudet, Dreyfus, Lemaire, and Schiff to Marcel Proust (Proust 88-92)

-Subseries 2: September 2013 accrual (Proust 93)

Series 11: Proust's milieu

-Subseries 1: Jacques Brehant and Amelie Bessiere

-Subseries 2: Friends and acquaintances writing for newspapers

-Subseries 3: Comtesse Greffulhe

-Subseries 4: George Boyer

-Subseries 5: Mary Wooster

-Subseries 6: Francois Selz collection of Leon Pierre-Quint and Henri de Montherlant

-Subseries 7: Pierre-Quint manuscripts

-Subseries 8: Fragiles

-Subseries 9: Daudet family

Languages: French

Papers of the French novelist Marcel Proust provides a look at the man and his times. Proust had a large and varied number of correspondents, and his letters include an important source of information about Parisian life and French culture at the turn of the century. Includes published and unpublished manuscripts, documents and letters about the Dreyfus Affair, John Ruskin, and the nature and function of literary criticism.

Born July 10, 1871 in Auteuil, France, a suburb of Paris, to wealthy parents Dr. Adrien Proust and Jeanne Weil. A nervous and frail child, he suffered from severe asthma.  He completed one year of military service, then studied law and philosophy.  He published his first works, Portraits de Peintres and Plaisirs et les Jours, in 1896. Proust's unpublished works from this period, Jean Santeuil and Contre Sainte-Beuve, were discovered in the 1950s.

His earliest love affairs, which had been heterosexual, changed later into homosexual affairs.  To the age of 35 Proust lived the life of a social climber in the Paris salons, although he worked for a short time as a lawyer and was also active in the Dreyfuss affair.

During 1899 he became interested in the works of the English critic John Ruskin (1819-1900), and after Ruskin's death the next year, Proust published an article that established him as a Ruskin scholar. Proust wrote several more articles on Ruskin, and with the help of an English-speaking friend, Marie Nordlinger, and his mother, Proust translated into French Ruskin's The Bible of Amiens (1904) and Sesame and Lilies (1906).

When Proust's father died in 1903 and his mother in 1905, he withdrew gradually from society, living in a sound-proof apartment and devoting himself chiefly to writing and introspection. In 1913 Proust published the first of his seven part major work, A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past). The second volume appeared in 1919 and won the Goncourt Prize, and the next parts made him internationally famous.  He worked on his novel from 1909 until the end of life.

Died November 18, 1922 in Paris, France of bronchitis and pneumonia, contracted after a series of asthma attacks.  The final volumes of his novel appeared under the direction of his brother Robert.

In his own lifetime, the merit of Proust's novel was debated by those who perceived its brilliance and those who claimed it was unreadable. Today it is recognized as one of the major literary works of the Western canon.

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers.

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Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Madame Robert Proust gathering of Marcel Proust materials (acquired through Henri Lefebvre)],
[Series 2: Proust to Bibesco (Proust 1)],
[Series 3: Proust and Hauser Correspondence (Proust 2 and 2A)],
[Series 4: Proust to Grandjean, Lauris, and others (Proust 3)],
[Series 5: Proust to Goyau, Daudet, Montesquiou-Fezensac, and others (Proust 4)],
[Series 6: Correspondence to Proust (Proust 5)],
[Series 7: Items by Proust (Proust 6-Proust 86)],
[Series 8: Montesquiou-Fezensac to Proust (Montesquiou 2-6)],
[Series 9: Correspondence from Walter Berry to Marcel Proust (Proust 87)],
[Series 10: Additional Accruals (Proust 88-93)],
[Series 11: Proust's milieu],
[[information restricted]],
[All]

Series 9: Correspondence from Walter Berry to Marcel Proust (Proust 87)

Box 13

Folder 46

Item Proust 87-001: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 26 July 1916

Dated on letter "26 Juillet [1916]"

ALS

First line: "La trouvaille des Armes des Guermantes dans la poussiere du vieux magasin avait fait surgir la vision du volume si longtemps attendu..." Written from: [Paris] 14, Rue Saint-Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 738, n. 403 app.

Physical Description: 1 1/2 pages

Folder 48

Item Proust 87-003: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 16 January 1919

Dated on letter "Jeudi soir, 16 Jan[vier 1919]"

ALS

First line: "Vous savez, dear friend, que la Princesse est revenue bredouille de cette banque de brigands. Elle m'a telephone, et nous sommes d'accord (elle et moi) qu'il n'y a plus rien a faire a l'amiable..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 43, n. 6

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 49

Item Proust 87-004: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 22 January 1919

Dated on letter "Le 22 Jan[vier] 1919"

ALS

First line: "Je reçois a l'instant votre lettre que l'on m'apporte de chez moi, et comme je dois partir dans quelques minutes pour une reunion je vous ecrit cinematographiquement..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 55, n. 11

Physical Description: 3 pages

Folder 50

Item Proust 87-005: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 20 February 1919

Dated on letter "20 Fevrier 1919"

ALS

First line: "Me voici rentre de Tours ou j'ai du aller pour des affaires americaines. Mais vous avez la Folie des Grandeurs, - pour moi ! Je me vois un jour au Pantheon !..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 116, n. 38

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 51

Item Proust 87-006: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 5 March 1919

Dated on letter "5 mars 1919"

ALS

First line: "Pour «un instant»? C'est meme trop ! Je vous renvoie l'epreuve a la hate, car mon quatrain me fait rougir, non seulement d'orgueil mais de pudeur..." Written from: [Paris] 14, rue St. Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 129, n. 47

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 52

Item Proust 87-007: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 25 May 1919

Date on letter estimated as "[Le 25 mai 1919]"

Autograph postcard signed

First line: "Dine a Carthage ce soir, mais sans aucun Serpent. Les Zaïmph ne se trouvent plus qu'au rayon des voiles au Bon Marche..." Written from: [Tunis]

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 235, n. 104

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 53

Item Proust 87-008: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 7 June 1919

Dated on letter "7 Juin [1919]"

ALS

First line: "Vous m'avez fait bien mal. Hier soir j'ai lu vos incomparables pages, - qui ont ravive tous mes souvenirs douloureux, - car j'ai vecu tout cela, jusqu'a la derniere ligne, - mais ma plaie n'est pas fermee..." Written from: [Paris] 14 rue St Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 255, n. 115

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 54

Item Proust 87-009: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 10 June 1919

Dated on letter "10 Juin [1919]"

ALS

First line: "Pas l'ombre d'un taxi, hier soir. J'ai erre par les rues jusqu'a la Seine, - mais rien, nulle part. C'est l'arret complet de tout. Pour moi aussi, rien ne marche..." Written from: [Paris] 14 r. St Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 257, n. 117

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 55

Item Proust 87-010: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 14 or 15 June 1919

Date on letter estimated as "[Le 14 ou le 15 juin 1919]"

ALS

First line: "Je me suis esquive de mon diner Jeudi (avec quelle joie, car c'etait d'un assom[m]ant !) pour courir au Ritz, ou, helas ! un des garçons me communiqua votre coup de telephone. J'en fus desole..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 261, n. 120

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 56

Item Proust 87-011: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 23 June 1919

Dated on letter "23 juin 1919"

ALS

First line: "Je reviens de Tours, et, ravi, je trouve votre livre, - ou plutot mon livre. J'ai lu la preface, et je n'ai presque pas ose lire plus avant -" Written from: [Paris] 14, Rue Saint-Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 275, n. 135

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 57

Item Proust 87-012: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 8 July 1919

Dated on letter "Mardi 8 juillet [1919]"

ALS

First line: "Votre lettre et le precieux Envoi m'arrivent a l'instant. Vous etes dear pour moi (comme le dirait Odette) et cela me touche au coeur. J'ai hate de vous voir pour vous dire combien..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 315, n. 166

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 58

Item Proust 87-013: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 16 August 1919

Dated on letter "16 aout [1919]"

ALS

First line: "C'est comme cela que vous noctambulez ! Cinq heures du matin au Bois ! On dirait Swann, apres la Maison Doree, pour boire du lait. Un peu plus et nous nous croisions..." Written from: [Paris] 14, Rue Saint-Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 376, n. 210

Physical Description: 1 1/4 pages

Folder 59

Item Proust 87-014: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 8 November 1919

Dated on letter "8 Novembre 1919"

ALS

First line: "Tres malade ? C'est navrant. Cela m'inquiete et cela me fait de la peine. Et pour sur, etant donne le Docteur Cottard, personne ne vous soigne ; et Celeste ne peut pas valoir Françoise." Written from: [Paris] 14, rue St. Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 461, n. 265

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 60

Item Proust 87-015: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 14 November 1919

Dated on letter "14 Nov[embre 1919]"

ALS

First line: "Les agents de change americains a Paris ne paraissent pas tres eclaires. Je reçois seulement ce matin une lettre de l'un deux - auquel j'avais telephone la semaine derniere..." Written from: [Paris] 14, Rue Saint-Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XVIII, p. 473, n. 271

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 61

Item Proust 87-016: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 5 April 1920

Dated on letter "Lundi soir [5 avril 1920]"

ALS

First line: "Quelle guigne noire ! C'est la premiere fois que je dine en ville depuis une semaine. Ces choses-la n'arrivent qu'a moi..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 191, n. 81

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 62

Item Proust 87-017: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 18 April 1920

Dated on letter "Dimanche 18 avril [1920]"

ALS

First line: "La guigne me poursuit toujours, a la grecque. Je regrette tant ma soiree perdue. Cela m'aurait fait tellement plaisir de vous revoir apres tous ces longs mois..." Written from: [Paris] 14, rue Saint-Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 221, n. 97

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 63

Item Proust 87-018: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 23 July 1920

Dated on letter "Le 23 Juillet [1920]"

ALS

First line: "Je rentre de Londres, ou j'ai ete passer une dizaine de jours, et je trouve vos Trois Points d'Interrogation. Quant au N° I, combien vous etes toujours gentil au sujet de mes petits Speech !..." Written from: [Paris] 14 rue St. Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 368, n. 173

Physical Description: 1 1/2 pages

Folder 64

Item Proust 87-019: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 23 August 1920

Dated on letter "Le 23 Aout 1920"

ALS

First line: "Avant de partir pour la Roumanie (en auto, 120 a l'heure) la Princesse Bibesco m'a prie de vous transmettre cette lettre, ecrite par le jeune Asquith..."

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 412, n. 200

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 65

Item Proust 87-020: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 3 October 1920

Dated on letter "3 Oct[obre] 1920"

ALS

First line: "Ayant du m'absenter pendant quelques jours, a ma rentree j'apprends que le Gouvernement s'est honore en decorant deux grands français, - le seul vrai romancier moderne et l'inventeur de la telegraphie sans fil, Branly." Written from: [Paris] 14 rue St Guillaume

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 505, n. 259

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 66

Item Proust 87-021: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 13 October 1920

Dated on letter "13 Oct[obre 1920]"

ALS

First line: "Votre lettre m'a fait tant de plaisir, - et de la peine aussi. C'est navrant de penser que vous avez ete encore tres-souffrant." Written from: AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN FRANCE 32, Rue Taitbout, Paris (XIe)

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XIX, p. 526, n. 276

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 67

Item Proust 87-022: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 2 May 1921

Dated on letter "Le 2 Mai [1921]"

ALS

First line: "Mais non, cher Ami, je ne le savais pas. Je vous savais malade, oui, mais je croyais que c'etait le vieux mal qui vous tourmente toujours, qui vous lancine mais qui vous oublie quelquefois..." Written from: [Paris] 53, Rue de Varennes

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XX, p. 237, n. 124

Physical Description: 2 pages

Folder 68

Item Proust 87-023: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 6 July 1921

Dated on letter "6 Juillet 1921"

ALS

First line: "Notre banquet, quoique succes (on est assez aimable pour me le dire) a tout de meme ete un four, car il y regnait une chaleur egyptienne..." Written from: [Paris] 53 Rue de Varenne

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XX, p. 385, n. 218

Physical Description: 2 pages

Folder 69

Item Proust 87-024: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 13 December 1921

Dated on letter "13 Dec[embre] 1921"

ALS

First line: "Helas ! oui, qu'il y a loin de ces jours heureux quand on se voyait et revoyait sous le sourire d'Olivier le Prevenant (jamais vous ne voulutes diner chez moi a cause de l'escalier : aujourd'hui mon ascenseur vous tend ses portes)" Written from: [Paris] 53 Rue de Varenne

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XX, p. 582, n. 339

Physical Description: 3 pages

Folder 70

Item Proust 87-025: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 1 June 1922

Dated on letter "1 Juin 1922"

ALS

First line: "Quelle lettre exquise, cher ami, et que vous etes bon pour ces pauvres gestes deja tombees dans le trou noir..." Written from: [Paris] 53 Rue de Varenne

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XXI, p. 242, n. 172

Physical Description: 2 pages

Folder 71

Item Proust 87-026: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 10 June 1922

Dated on letter "10 Juin [1922]"

ALS

First line: "Helas, il n'y a rien a faire. Madame B. est intransigible. Elle m'a donne rendez-vous pour cet apres-midi et je suis reste une heure avec elle..." Written from: [Paris] 53 Rue de Varenne

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XXI, p. 255, n. 184

Physical Description: 3 pages

Folder 72

Item Proust 87-027: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 16 June 1922

Dated on letter "Le 16 Juin, 1922"

TL

First line: "Fidele a une tradition qui remonte a sa fondation, la Chambre de Commerce Americaine en France s'apprete a celebrer l'anniversaire de la proclamation de l'Independance des etats-Unis..." Written from: American Chamber of Commerce in France 32, rue Taitbout Paris (IXe)

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XXI, p. 283, n. 204

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 73

Item Proust 87-028: Berry, Walter to Proust, Robert, 1 August 1923

Dated on letter "1 Aout 1923"

ALS

First line: "Je rentre a Paris apres une absence de quelques jours et je trouve votre mot et le 'Defile de Sacristie', que j'ai lu avec les memes sensations que la lecture des pages de Marcel me donne toujours?" Written from: 53 Rue de Varenne

Creator: Berry, Walter

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 74

Item Proust 87-029: Berry, Walter to Proust, Robert, 24 March 1924

Dated on letter "24 mars 1924"

ALS

First line: "Je rentre a Paris apres un sejour de quelques mois aux Etats Unis, et je trouve la Prisonniere, 'en souvenir de Marcel'." Written from: 53 Rue de Varenne

Creator: Berry, Walter

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 75

Item Proust 87-030: Berry, Walter to Proust, Robert, 1 April 1924

Dated on letter "le 1 Avril 1924"

ALS

First line: "Apres quelques jours d'absence je rentre chez moi et je trouve Marcel,-- comme je le trouvais si souvent jadis?" Written from: 53 Rue de Varenne

Creator: Berry, Walter

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 76

Item Proust 87-031: Berry, Walter to Proust, Robert, 16 January 1926

Dated on letter "Le 16 Jan. 1926"

ALS

First line: "Les deux beaux volumes m'ont serre le coeur, car je voyais Marcel me les apportant, mais cela me reconforte de penser qu'ils viennent de vous." Written from: 53 Rue de Varenne

Creator: Berry, Walter

Physical Description: 1 page

Folder 77

Item Proust 87-032: Berry, Walter to Proust, Robert, May 1937

Dated on letter "Fleurus 05.37"

ALS

First line: "La Princesse Bibesco voudrait publier, comme preface a une nouvelle edition de les 'Huit Paradis', une lettre de Marcel qu'il lui ecrivit il y a quelques annees quand le livre parut. " Written from: 53 Rue de Varenne

Creator: Berry, Walter

Physical Description: 1 page

Box 3

Folder 149

Item Proust 87-002: Berry, Walter to Proust, Marcel, 13 November 1916

Dated on letter "13 Novembre [1916]"

ALS

Written on item Lefebvre 149, letter from Scheikevitch, Marie, Mme Pierre Carolus-Duran, puis Mme Jacques Vial to Proust, Marcel. 12 novembre 1916.

First line: "C'est une lettre inedite de Ruskin comparant la France et l'Italie, parlant des cathedrales françaises, et de bien d'autres choses encore..." Written from: [Paris] 14, rue St. Guillaume

Creator: Berry, Walter

Originals or Copies Note: Published in Kolb: XV, p. 328, n. 150

Physical Description: 1pages

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Madame Robert Proust gathering of Marcel Proust materials (acquired through Henri Lefebvre)],
[Series 2: Proust to Bibesco (Proust 1)],
[Series 3: Proust and Hauser Correspondence (Proust 2 and 2A)],
[Series 4: Proust to Grandjean, Lauris, and others (Proust 3)],
[Series 5: Proust to Goyau, Daudet, Montesquiou-Fezensac, and others (Proust 4)],
[Series 6: Correspondence to Proust (Proust 5)],
[Series 7: Items by Proust (Proust 6-Proust 86)],
[Series 8: Montesquiou-Fezensac to Proust (Montesquiou 2-6)],
[Series 9: Correspondence from Walter Berry to Marcel Proust (Proust 87)],
[Series 10: Additional Accruals (Proust 88-93)],
[Series 11: Proust's milieu],
[[information restricted]],
[All]