THE FAMOUS SADE ROLL MANUSCRIPT
The "manuscript museum" in Paris, France has two locations. We paid five euros each to visit here. Well worth it. I really could have spent way more time in here. It's that good. It could be considered the Saint-Germain des Près quartier, and the métro is probably RUE DU BAC.
The story of the Marquis de Sade is complex and interesting. Most people don't know much about him or the times. They have a lot of assumptions and things have to be in context. This was not only a genius philosopher, but a scoundrel and a beleaguered survivor.
Chronologically speaking, this is his first book, THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM. He carefully copied it in tiny script in the Bastille prison, (possibly also Vincennes?) where his family had him kept on a "lettre de cachet," on two sides, the pages fixed to form a neat roll. There are few scratchouts, as he copied his first draft finished, and both sides of the paper are used. Fun to see the ink colors change, as the plume ran dry. When the Bastille fell, he got out (he did this at the Bicêtre prison, too, leaving in the chaos) and then sent his wife back to look for this roll, but it was already gone, and he assumed it was lost. It was not. Someone or many someones had kept it, and it turned up in the early 20th c.
The famous patrons of the arts, Noailles, bought it and immediately had it transcribed for preservation. A daughter lent it to someone in another country "for study" and he sold it fraudulently. It took decades to recover after lawsuits by a Noailles son, and then Swiss and French courts were opposed as to the outcome. This manuscript museum finally bought it for 2 million euros or so, if I remember correctly. It is rarely available for the public to see and does travel to be studied and to show.
I cannot recommend English translations of Sade, really. If you can read French and handle archaic forms of it, I enourage you to read his correspondence and other things. I did when first in France, and was happy to find how absorbing they are.
My spouse is a Sade scholar and we often travel to see sites related to him. We've been at it for decades.
This show has so, so many explanations of the times and historical and literary precedents, and I will post two other clips showing some of that, maybe on my other YT channel and on Dailymotion, too.
Rare books, actual manuscripts, letters, all kinds of things are in this show. Any bookish or historically oriented buffs would like this very much. It's also in a charming area in a lovely old building and is extremely pleasant.
Photos without flash and clips are definitely permitted in this place, without restriction.
copyright 2014 Lisa B. Falour, B.S., M.B.A.
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