2011 Rare Books fair

EXPOSITION DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE LITTÉRAIRE JACQUES DOUCET

8-10 place du Panthéon, Paris 5e

The Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet is a patrimonial research library created by the great fashion designer, collector and patron Jacques Doucet (1853-1929). Devoted to French literature from the era of symbolism to modern times, it is one of the richest literary libraries in the world concerning the second half of the 19th century and the whole of the twentieth century.

The collection built up by Jacques Doucet brings together the most prestigious names in French literature: Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Apollinaire, Reverdy, Cendrars, Breton and most of the surrealists.

From 1916 to 1929, Jacques Doucet, the magician as his first adviser liked to call him André Suarès, built up a unique literary library founded on the direct relationship he maintained with the writers with whom he surrounded himself - personalities as diverse as André Suarès, Pierre Reverdy, Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, Raymond Radiguet, André Breton, Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos and many others. In addition to completed works and rare editions, Jacques Doucet, a genuine innovator, collected manuscripts, letters from the authors, corrected proofs - any element to help follow the creation and development of a literary work.

Through his bookseller Camille Bloch, Jacques Doucet came into contact with the young writers of the "Esprit nouveau" as early as 1916. He paid them in exchange for a letter of reflection on the artistic and literary movements of the time, thus communicating with Pierre Reverdy, whose review Nord Sud he financed; Max Jacob, who offered him the manuscript of le Cornet à dés; Blaise Cendrarsla Prose du Transsibérien and the manuscript and corrected proofs of Pâques. 
From Guillaume Apollinaire, he acquired the manuscripts of le Bestiaire, the manuscript and corrected proofs of le Poète assassiné and a copy of Case d’Armons.

In December 1920, the patron met André Breton, a proofreader with his friend Jeanne Tachard, whom he recruited first as an artistic and literary correspondent then as librarian the following summer, joined in 1922 by Louis Aragon. They played a decisive role in determining the direction taken by the library. Their aim was not only to complete the collection amassed at the initiative of Suarès, but also to extend it to include everything that had contributed to the "formation of the poetic mentality of their generation", according particular importance to philosophical works, the Moralists - in short representing, as Aragon said, everything that Isidore Ducasse might have read. In October 1922, they drew up a list of authors for a poetic library largely open to their Dadaist and surrealist friends. They even added a list of manuscripts to be purchased together with the prices. And so, new additions to the collection included Le Guerrier appliqué by Jean Paulhan, Twenty-five poems by Tristan Tzara, Répétitions by Paul Eluard, Nouvelles Hébrides by Robert Desnos, les Voyageurs debout by Jacques Baron etc. Jacques Doucet financed the review "Littérature" and in return received the manuscripts and drafts. From Louis Aragon, he commissioned aProjet d’histoire de la littérature contemporaine. We owe the rich documentary collection on surrealism - consisting of tracts, catalogues and various reviews - to Robert Desnos, his last adviser from 1927 to 1929. 
After it was transferred to the Réserve de la Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, the library was entrusted to Marie Dormoy in whose hands it remained until 1956. With the help of the Société des Amis de la Bibliothèque, in particular Rose Adler, she organised several exhibitions thereby igniting the interest of personalities who might help maintain the spirit of the collection. It is to her efforts that we owe the arrival of the Gide and Léautaud collections. 
For a short time, the library was under the auspices of a university professor, Octave Nadal, from 1957 to 1961, before being entrusted to Georges Blin, professor at the Collège de France, between 1961 and 1988. François Chapon, who arrived after the departure of Marie Dormoy in December 1956 and who was Director from 1988 to 1994, gave the library an exceptional scope resulting in donations of unrivalled generosity: the collections of Mallarmé, Reverdy, Breton, Tzara, Leiris, Desnos, Eluard, Péret, Ribemont-Dessaignes, Gilbert Lely, Nicolas de Staël, Valéry, Suarès, André Rouveyre, Mauriac, Malraux, Louise de Vilmorin, Adrienne Monnier, Natalie C. Barney, Jean Schlumberger, Charles du Bos, Marcel Arland, Rose Adler, Henri Calet, René Clair, Derain, Marie Laurencin, Florence Gould, Frénaud, Marie Noël, Supervielle, Ponge, Henri Hoppenot, Jouhandeau, Edmond Jaloux, Saint-Pol-Roux, Louis Pergaud, Rachilde. It is also to Chapon that we owe the extension of the premises at 8 place du Panthéon, where he recreated the offices of Henri Mondor, Michel Leiris, Natalie C. Barney and Paul Valéry with their furniture and items of their personal decor.