First publication Grasset 14 November 1913, NRF reprint 21 June 1919.
To Céleste and Odilon Albaret:
"To Céleste Gineste, tender spouse of Odilon Albaret, in memory of my profound and very grateful affection for you both. Their devoted friend, M.P. July 1916.
Sombre sorrow of skies ordinarily grey,
The sadder for being blue during rare intervals of brightness,
And that then let filter upon chilly plains
The lukewarm tears of a misunderstood sun;
Auxillac, oh sullen humour of sombre plains
That stretch endlessly, without joy and without colour,
Far off La Canourgue sheds its great shadows
Small and meagre gardens yield up no flowers.
François-Régis hauls home his pails, and pitifully
His mare resigned, anxious and dreaming
Bending her humble and pensive head
Inhales in short breaths the heavy breath of the wind"
To Claude Anet:
"To Monsieur Claude Anet. In sympathetic homage. Marcel Proust."
To André Arnyvelde:
"19 November 1913. To Monsieur Arnyvelde. As a memento of deep friendship and gratitude after an hour spent together. Marcel Proust."
To Gabriel Astruc:
"Dear Sir, I am infinitely touched that the man who has endowed Paris with a monument and a theatre , and whose work will one day be acknowledged and acclaimed by all, should have been so kind as to write me that most flattering and moving letter. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And if you would be so good as to exchange for this, the only copy of the first edition I have left, the one in which you have taken the trouble to underline all the mistakes, it would be of great help to me for the imminent fourth impression. I would have taken much pleasure in what you send me and in chatting with you about it. But I am working under such painful attacks right now that that will be long delayed. With my most affectionate regards, yours gratefully, Marcel Proust."
To Marcel Ballot:
[...] As a token of profound literary and personal sympathy [...]
To Madame Roger de Barbarin [née Marie Finaly]:
"[...] As a token of most respectful and very deep affection [...]"
To Henri Bataille:
"To Monsieur Henri Bataille, as a token of my profound admiration. Marcel Proust."
To Jean Béraud:
"To Monsieur Jean Béraud. As a respectful token of my deepest gratitude and admiration. Marcel Proust."
To Henri Bergson:
"[...] To the philosopher whose image is imprinted upon every aspect of our days [...]"
To Walter Berry:
"To Monsieur Walter Berry.
Monsieur, you probably think as I do that the wisest, the
most poetic, the best, are not those who put all their poetry, all their
kindness and all their knowledge into their work but those who have the
adroitness and prodigality to keep some of it for their lives. The story
of the binding with the arms of the Guermantes is so beautiful that, while
awaiting the poet who, let us hope, cannot fail to emerge to celebrate it
(and I would offer myself up if need be), it already needed a poet to
create and experience it. It is in this sense that I suggest that a
residuum of your knowledge and your poetic conception of life was already
inherent in this story. Things do not only have the lachrymae
that Virgil speaks of. At this moment I prefer to call to mind a Latin
proverb related to this in meaning: Habent sua fata libelli.
[Books have their fate] I am convinced that in the complex sequence of
causes and effects, the fatum of this little book decreed that,
through you, it should come to the person who exhumed the Guermantes from
their tombs and sought to revive the lustre of the extinct name. May its
destiny not stop there; may it also have been to bring together, in order
to weave between them 'the mysterious threads by which our hearts are
linked', the wonderful discoverer who made an even rarer present from the
one celebrated in Sylvestre Bonnard and his most grateful and
admiring
Marcel Proust.
July 1916."
[Partially translated in Selected Letters 3 1910-1917.]
To Madame Jean Bertheroy:
"To Madame Jean Bertheroy. As a token of respect. Marcel Proust."
To Antoine Bibesco:
"To Prince Antoine Bibesco. To you my dear Antoine with all of my tenderness. Marcel"
To Emmanuel Bibesco:
"To Prince Emmanuel Bibesco. With my profound affection. Marcel Proust."
To Princesse Marthe Bibesco:
"To Madame Princesse de Bibesco. As a token of respectful admiration. Marcel Proust."
To René Blum:
"To Monsieur René Blum. Dear René, I want you to have this
rather elegant first edition which Grasset sent me. In this way you get
back the book which you brought forth, with such a noble gesture,
consecrated by a great artist, and who carried forth the head of Orpheus.
Your grateful friend, Marcel Proust.
Had I not been quite so exhausted I wanted to copy out here the phrases
("more unsubtantial, with more vitality, more faithful, the smell and
taste of things alone remain to remind us, to fix, to convey in the tiny
and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast edifice of memory")1
that you had liked and that you read aloud to me the other evening. And
because of that these words retain, rolled up in them like dainty and
sombre slings that rugged and sweet sonorousness of your severe and tender
voice, your voice of a critic and a friend."
1. Slightly inaccurate quotation from the madeleine episode.
To Abel Bonnard:
"To Monsieur Abel Bonnard,
His admirer who has very much lived with him in recent days by re-reading
at length the Palais Palmacamini and the Vie de l'Amour
about which he has often had the desire to talk to him about.
Marcel Proust."
To Émile Boutroux:
"To Monsieur Émile Bouroux. As a token of respectful admiration. Marcel Proust."
To René Boylesve:
"To Monsieur René Boylesve. As a token of profound admiration. Marcel Proust."
To Prince Constantin de Brancovan:
"To Prince Constantin de Brancovan. His old friend, Marcel Proust."
To Madame de Brantes:
"To Madame de Brantes. As a token of respectful and profound affection. Marcel Proust."
To Reginald Bridgeman:
"To Monsieur Reginald Bridgeman. As a token of deep affinity.
'Dear reader take but this small part of me
The part that you liked because of its resemblance to you.
But when we meet let us not make the vow
True friendship is to feel things together
The rest is fragile, let us spare ourselves farewells.'
(Sully Prudhomme)
In exchange for your card, my first news of the Armistice,
which touched me very much. But as I no longer pay any visits, and I no
longer get into duels - provisionally - I no longer keep any cards so I
cannot send you anything less than this thick book. Forgive me,
Marcel Proust."
To Stéphane Brossard:
"To Monsieur Stéphane Brossard, in cordial remembrance, Marcel Proust."
To Louis Brun:
"To Monsieur Brun, this book that has now passed to the Nouvelle Revue Française has not forgotten its first love for Grasset. In affectionate remembrance, Marcel Proust."
To Louis Brun: [in a copy of the N.R.F. reprint]
"To M. Louis Brun, this book for which he was partly my
collaborator, to which he has been kind enough to remain a friend, and
which makes our names inseparable in affection. Marcel Proust."
To Gaston de Caillavet:
"To Gaston de Caillavet, his old friend Marcel Proust."
To Don Ventura García Calderón:
"To Don Ventura Garcia Calderon, Cordial respects, Marcel Proust."
To Gaston Calmette:
"... Hitherto you have held open for me some sort of credit of goodwill and esteem. But I have often felt that you care little for my writings. But should you ever have time to read a few pages of this novel, especially in the second part, I think you would at least make my acquaintance..."
To Madame Catulle Mendès:
"To Madame Catulle Mendès In respectful homage, Marcel Proust."
To Illan de Casa Fuerte:
"[...] With all my affection [...]"
To Madame Catusse:
"To Madame Catusse. As a token of profound affection which absence cannot diminish and which memory strengthens. In regret for Lost Time. Respectfully, Marcel Proust."
To Henry Céard:
"To Monsieur Henri Céard.
This book towards which you have shown so much goodwill. Your very
grateful Marcel Proust."
To the Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre:
"To Madame Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre. In respectful homage. Marcel Proust."
To Jean Cocteau:
[Dedication covers 3 pages, concerning a letter by Mme de Sévigné that he had promised to read to Cocteau. The passage, written by Mme de Sévigné 12 June 1680 would be transcribed by him in A l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs.]
"Dear Jean, I can't find the Madame de Sévigné letter ('It
will explain, it lingers") but as I have quoted it in one of my future S[wanns]
which I have the proofs for I will copy you out the passage. While you are
waiting do you remember this which is so pretty:
"Oh you whose whiteness is not to the mirror of the sea
But one of the thousand reflections of that divine lantern
Around which among other lanterns more faint
[...] I put in all the bonnets, cassocks that were necessary. I'm going on the promenade, I hear a thousand idle tales. [...] After all that I no longer dare say anything about myself. [...]"
To Jean Cocteau: [same copy?]
"To Jean, our minds, those twin mirrors [...]"
To Colette:
"To Madame Colette. In admiring homage, Marcel Proust."
To Jules Cottet:
"To Doctor Cottet. In distant memory of a friend whose absence has not diminished but ripened his attachment. His affectionate Marcel Proust."
To Céline Cottin:
"Greetings to the soon to be released invalid from the perpetual invalid"
To Ernest de Crauzat: (1919)
"To M. E. de Crauzat with whom I fervently regret, since I had in this case met him at the home of the dear and kindly and learned doctor Gagey, not being able to arrange a meeting in order to thank him: from the Côté de Boulevard Haussmann. Marcel Proust."
To Ernest de Crauzat:
"To M. de Crauzat, resident (as was I up until about the year 1898) of boulevard Malesherbes. I lived there in a townhouse belonging to old M. de Lubersac, a lover of rare books just like the holder of this copy, a apartment which in relation to a few secondary points features in 'Le Côté de Guermantes'. With all his gratitude, Marcel Proust."
To Maurice Darlu:
"To Monsieur Maurice Darlu. In affectionate memory. Marcel Proust"
To Madame Alphonse Daudet:
"To Madame Alphonse Daudet. As a token of admiration and respectful gratitude. Marcel Proust."
To Lucien Daudet:
"My dear little one, you are absent from this book: you are too much a part of my heart for me to depict you objectively, you will never be a 'character', you are the best part of the author. But when I think how many years of my life were spent on the 'côté de chez Lucien', on the rue de Bellechasse, in Bourg-la-Reine, the words 'Lost time' take on different sounds to me, very sad, but very beautiful too. One day may we 'find it again'. In any case for you who have painted the pagoda of Chanteloup and the roses of Easter all is found again and will be preserved eternally."
To Lucien Daudet:
"My little rat, how I would like it if an Aubrelique and a Brisacier were in this book. With all my fond admiration for you. Marcel Proust."
To Maurice Denis:
"To Monsieur Maurice Denis, His admirer, Marcel Proust."
To Lucien Descaves:
"To Monsieur Lucien Descaves. With the author's compliments. Marcel Proust."
To Dr Abel Desjardins:
"To my childhood friend Docteur Abel Desjardins, Marcel"
To Robert Dreyfus: (1913)
"To Monsieur Robert Dreyfus. As a token of affectionate friendship. Marcel Proust."
To Robert Dreyfus: (1919 NRF edition)
"To Robert Dreyfus. Another Swann which he already
has! But to furnish him with a more homogeneous looking set. Alas I
haven't any on "good paper". The Society of Bibliophiles subscribes in
advance to all of them from the N.R.F. (without any preference for my
books). And I really wanted to send you a Swann so as to put a
pretty dedication in for you, but I have been so ill since my move that I
am practically senile. And I am making do with sending you the three
volumes that have come out today with my affectionate friendship. Marcel
Proust.
I actually received a few "author's copies" yesterday but they were all
"second editions". So I didn't want to send you one of those."
To Mme Duclaux:
"To Mme Duclaux. In admiring and respectful homage."
To Madame Hugo Finaly (Eugénie Ellenberger):
"To Madame Hugo Finaly. As a respectful token of profound and grateful affection. Marcel Proust."
To Robert de Flers:
"To Robert de Flers, whose noble life unites heroic deeds with beautiful works. His friend, Marcel Proust."
To Ernst Forssgren:
"To Ernst Forssgren, in testimony of my perfect admiration, and of my sincere remembrance. Marcel Proust."
To André Foucart:
"To André Foucart with all my deep and admiring affection. Marcel Proust."
To Anatole France:
"To M. Anatole France. To the first Master, the greatest and most beloved, with the respectful gratitude of Marcel Proust who always calls him Nabi and in memory of 'Lost Time'."
To Anatole France:
"...One of the human beings whom I love most deeply..."
To Alexandre de Gabriac:
"To Count Alexandre de Gabriac, with the hope of finally
being able to chat a little less rarely with one of the only friends for
whom I have sometimes felt a nostalgic regret. Marcel Proust."
To Louis Ganderax:
"To Monsieur Louis Ganderax. As a token of ardent affection. Marcel Proust."
To Henri Gans:
"To Monsieur Henri Gans. With my warmest friendship and to show him that I do have other interests apart from Ural Caspian (I'm not sure about the spelling)."
To Louis Gautier-Vignal:
"To one of the only creatures in whose makeup is found only the purest components, devoid of envy, ambition, malice towards all others, (because this is only negative and there are positive qualities). Marcel Proust."
To Bernard Grasset:
"To Monsieur Bernard Grasset, in affectionate and devoted memory. Marcel Proust."
To Comtesse Greffulhe:
"To Madame Comtesse Greffule, as a respectful token of my admiration and affection. Marcel Proust."
To Armand Duc de Guiche:
"To the Duc de Guiche.
Dear friend, I have at last found a first edition of Swann (not
yet one of A L'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, but this will
not be long, I hope) and I am sending it to you with grateful affection.
Marcel Proust."
To Daniel Halévy:
"To Daniel Halévy. In friendly memory. Marcel Proust."
To Laure Hayman:
"To Madame Laure Hayman. In homage from her admirer and friend. Marcel Proust."
To Abbé Hébert:
"To Monsieur Abbé Hébert. As a token of respectful and admiring attachment. Marcel Proust."
To Léon Hennique:
"To Monsieur Léon Hennique his admirer Marcel Proust"
To Lucien Henraux:
"To Lucien Henraux His friend Marcel Proust."
To Édouard Hermann:
"Dear friend, I wanted to remind you of Ysaïe, you me and the great musician you misjudge but who plays so well, but this exercise in arrangement is beyond my strength and I am holding on to just enough to assure you of my friendship. Your, Marcel Proust."
[Above the dedication Proust had inscribed the music for the
initial theme of Franck's Piano quintet in F minor.]
To Abel Hermant:
"To Monsieur Abel Hermant. In homage of my admiration and my grateful friendship. Marcel Proust."
To Edmond Hesse:
"To Monsieur Edmond Hesse. In fondest recollection of his devoted Marcel Proust."
To Ernest Jubien:
"To Monsieur Ernest Jubien. In affectionate memory of the author. Marcel Proust."
To Jacques de Lacretelle:
[Long dedication dated 20 April 1918 is translated in Selected Letters 4 1918-1922 and Letters of Marcel Proust, Mina Curtiss.]
To Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld:
"To Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld. In memory of "lost" Time where we were happy, inhabited by those we all loved! His friend Marcel Proust."
To Georges de Lauris:
"My dear Georges, I wanted you to receive one of the first copies my publisher sent me before the book goes on sale. You were the first to read fragments of it in the past and I am anxious to find out if you will extend the same good will to the whole book that you showed to those, and also if you deem it to be worthy of being read by Ginette. With all my affection, Marcel."
To Pierre Lavallée:
"To Pierre Lavallée. As a memento of a profound affection. Marcel Proust".
To Suzette Lemaire:
"My dear little Mademoiselle Suzette, here is the little book become very large. With my tender gratitude, your Marcel Proust".
To Pierre Loüys:
"To Monsieur Pierre Loüys. In admiring homage and sympathy. Marcel Proust."
To the Marquise de Ludre: (1914)
"To Madame Marquise de Ludre in respectful homage. Marcel Proust."
To the Marquise de Ludre: (1919)
"Madame, I do not think I will be in a state to come tomorrow evening. I will try to come and see you after dinner. I think your theory is quite audacious. 1st point nobody knows anything about insomnia. 2nd point. Insomnia stems from the demineralisation of the nervous cells. (How can you go from the 1st point to the 2nd). 3rd point in order to sleep you must start by giving up veronal etc. which demineralises. What does anybody know about it? - I realize that my way of using veronal is absurd. But it is a useful medicine in so much as that it brings on natural sleep through preliminary artificial sleep. Ask Bergson if he knows me to have any liking for trional. Your respectful admirer. Marcel Proust."
To Jeanne Lyon:
"To Mademoiselle Jeanne Lyon
'Because music is sweet
Makes the soul harmonious and like a divine choir
Awakens a thousand voices which sing in the heart'
Respectfully
Marcel Proust."
[Quotation from Hernani, Victor Hugo]
To Émile Mâle:
"To Émile Mâle in token of respectful admiration. Marcel Proust."
To Georges Félix Marchand:
"To Monsieur Georges Félix Marchand. In affectionate memory. Marcel Proust."
To Dr Alfred Martin:
"To Doctor Alfred Martin. As a token of gratitude, Marcel Proust."
To Harry Melvill:
"May 1916: From the time Jacques Blanche painted your portrait and mine I hoped to become acquainted with you and it often occurred to me that on my arrival at our artist's that at any moment I would perhaps have the pleasure of meeting you, there in his studio. But that has all become what a poem (by Rosetti, I think) calls: 'What could have been, and what was not to be'. Day after day, the years have placed between our lives divergent wakes in space formed of waves that could never be crossed over. So it is, Monsieur, with a somewhat melancholy pleasure that I send you (in the full knowledge that for all that it will not be 'retrouvé') 'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu'. Marcel Proust."
To Robert de Montesqiou:
"To Comte Robert de Montesquiou, in homage from his admirer and friend, always pleased to tell him once again of his ardent and grateful attachment. Marcel Proust."
To Paul Morand:
"Recipe: take the finest quality intelligence that exists, add equal quantities of sensuality, insolence and irony. Let the mixture set at the appropriate glacial temperature; and you will have a thick pink white cream laced with pink. Presently it will become animated, pass from the vegetable kingdom into a superior one, so as to become a sort of white tomcat with pink lips and a cruelly perspicacious eye. Further transformation: a diplomat intended for the loftiest career. Extreme vanity over recipes, since despite his general character, Paul Morand is unique. It seems he needs to have many mistresses and few friends, since his sensuality is for women, his insolence for men and his irony for everyone. But here some compensation has been offered to the old sick author. Because the remarkable intelligence of Morand becomes the refuge and the palace for errant books. And at times 'to understand' to a certain degree not being 'to equal' as a Boche said, but 'to surpass', the author seems rather to be Paul Morand and a simple consumer of discoveries who has brought understanding to the insolent artist, his devoted servant, Marcel Proust."
To Eugène Mutiaux:
"To Monsieur Eugène Muttiaux. [sic] In memory of "Lost time", as a testimony of affectionate respect. His godson, his friend, Marcel Proust."
To Pol Neveux:
"To Monsieur Pol Neveux. As a token of my sympathetic gratitude. Marcel Proust."
To Pierre de Nolhac:
"To Monsieur Pierre de Nolhac. As a token of respectful admiration. Marcel Proust. I have just followed you to my delight to Trianon."
To Vicomte de Paris:
"To Vicomte de Paris. In affectionate memory. Marcel Proust."
To Madame de Pierrebourg:
"To Madame Baronne de Pierrebourg. With respectful, admiring and grateful homage. Marcel Proust."
To Marcel Plantevignes:
"To Marcel Plantevignes, to my dear reader of preference, the other Marcel."
To Princesse de Polignac:
"To the memory of the dear and venerated Prince Edmond de Polignac.
In homage from one to whom he showed so much indulgence, and who, in the
reverential contemplation of memory, is still in admiration of the
singularity of his art and his spirit.
M. P."
[This is the printed dedication proposed by Proust for À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs but refused by Princesse de Polignac. It is pasted into a copy of Du côté de chez Swann, NRF, 1917.]
To Marguerite[?] Poradowska:
"To Madame Poradowska. As a token of respect. Marcel Proust."
To Jacques Porel:
"To Jacques Porel who owes to none but himself "the pride" he inspires.
And in fact, some memory, foolishly melancholic, that might be associated
to him in this verse, he could imagine
A feather of iron that is not without beauty
Marcel Proust."
To Dr Samuel Pozzi:
"To Monsieur Professor Pozzi. As a token of grateful respect. Marcel Proust."
To Marcel Prévost:
"To Monsieur Marcel Prévost. In admiring homage. Marcel Proust."
To Comte Primoli:
"To Monsieur Comte Primoli. As a token of respectful affection. Marcel Proust."
To Comte Primoli:
"To Monsieur Comte Primoli. As a token of respectful and ardent affection. Marcel Proust."
To Robert Proust:
"To my little brother, in memory of Lost time, recovered for a moment each time we are together. Marcel."
To Raymond Recouly:
"To Monsieur Recouly. As a token of friendship and gratitude. Marcel Proust."
To Henri de Régnier:
"To Monsieur Henri de Régnier. As a token of admiration and gratitude. Marcel Proust."
To Madame Marie de Régnier:
"Her Royal Majesty the queen of the Canaques, to Madame de
Régnier. With the respectful homage of one of her Canaque subjects who
admires and loves her with all his heart.
Marcel Proust.
To Louis de Robert:
"To Monsieur Louis de Robert with all my affection, my gratitude and my admiration. Marcel."
To Henri Rochat:
"To Henri Rochat
Before
In memory of our zeal
That gave you safe haven,
You want to take to your wings
And fly into the azure
(In this departure that intoxicates you
And makes me sad in myturn)
The very title of this book
That says: go - or says: come back.
Do not be the faithful dove
That returns to the cot
Rather into the eternal vault
Be the eagle, his pioneer.
Without giving a further thought to the one who loves you,
Think only of heaven itself,
Ascend towards it in sure flight,
The soul ardent but made wise.
Separated from you in life
We retain a nostalgia
For your incomparable azure.
Marcel Proust.
Afterwards
P.S. To Henri Rochat from what he told me at least six months after this
letter (Odilon Mt Fleury) imagined that instead of being […]"
To Maurice Rostand:
"To Maurice Rostand, his admirer, his friend, Marcel Proust. Dear friend I received your telegram. No my feelings haven't changed at all, and you add further to my gratitude.
To Madame Rostand:
"To Madame Rostand. As a token of respectful admiration. Marcel Proust."
To Raymond Roussel:
"To Monsieur Raymond Roussel. In affectionate gratitude and in exchange for the beautiful book that people have told me so much about and which I am going to read with great interest. Your devoted Marcel Proust."
To Bertrand de Salignac-Fénelon:
"My dear Bertrand, I sent you a first edition to Cuba on the first day. Now I hear that you are in Paris. So I am sending you a copy of the new printing, in the fear that my book would not reach the hands of one of the beings who I love most deeply. Marcel Proust."
To Paul Adrien Schayé:
"To Paul Adrien Schayé in memory of "The Flower of the beautiful age" and of "Lost time". With best wishes, Marcel Proust."
To Marie Scheikévitch:
[Translated in Against Sainte-Beuve - Proust's Revelations on the Continuation of his Novel]
Online: https://proust.elan-numerique.fr/letter/03024
To Paul Souday:
"To Monsieur Paul Souday
In sympathetic homage.
Marcel Proust."
To Paul Souday: (1919) [in a copy of the N.R.F. reprint]
"To Monsieur Paul Souday, this book that has caused him to
write some very nice things, even though he didn't like it. Marcel Proust.
To Princesse Soutzo:
"To Madame Princesse Soutzo. In memory of those sad and
charming Palaces of war, like casinos at the end of the season, when the
last remaining bathers, few in number, discover each other at the moment
of their leaving, meet at every turn, and in the last few little rooms
that have been left open, organize an uncomfortable and precarious
existence, which they will come to regret. Such is the type of coming
together to which I owe hours that I do not have, the illusion of seeing
extend beyond the usual and brief duration of those melancholy seaside
friendships, but which I shall always think of in the surroundings of this
"Paris by the Sea" with grateful respect, Marcel Proust.
This autograph expresses badly my feelings of admiration but I do not
suppress it, in the thought that the corrected spelling mistakes will give
it a little value and savour for Antoine, should he open this book one day
in the drawing room blooming with guelder roses, tulips and lilac."
To Madame Straus:
"To Mme Emile Straus, the only one of the beautiful things
that I loved already at the period in which this book begins, for whom my
admiration has not been changed, any more than has her beauty, her
perpetually youthful charm.
With respectful homage.
Marcel Proust."
To Valentine Thomson:
"To Mademoiselle Thomson. With all my deepest affection, my highest respect, I send her, in spite of myself because she expressly asked for it, this book that is so unsuitable for young ladies, even artistic young ladies of great talent. Her Marcel."
To Madame Marcelle Tinayre:
"To Madame Marcelle Tinayre.
As a token of admiration.
Marcel Proust."
To Jacques Truelle:
"To Jacques Truelle. This dictionary of our friendship, this lexicon of our parallel memories, and in which he is more sensible than me. Your friend Jacques Truelle."
To Mme Jean Vacaresco:
"To Mme Jean Vacaresco. With respectful compliments of the
author, who is infinitely grateful for the high and flattering protection
accorded to his hero. Marcel Proust. July 1916."
To Jean-Louis Vaudoyer:
"Dear friend, your letter filled me with joy. And yet I am very unhappy at the moment. I would like to see you if at all possible to talk about travel, expatriation. If you know of a peaceful, isolated house in Italy, it doesn't matter where, I should like to go away. Or if I stay in Paris, I want you to transform it into a bigger Vicenza by the descriptions you give me. You don't happen to know if that Farnese palace (the Cardinal's), at a place which I think is called Caprarola, is to let? Alas at the very moment of the appearance of this book I am thinking about something else entirely. Your friend Marcel."
To Maurice Vernes:
"In homage from Du Côté de chez Swann, in the hope (and the contrary certainty) of being able to go along the Côté de chez Monsieur Maurice Vernes, Marcel Proust."
To Abbé Vignot:
"To Monsieur the Abbé Vignot. Dear Monsieur Abbé, I would not have wished to send you this book before the new printing. A few of the errors that would have exasperated you have been removed. Your respectful admirer, Marcel Proust."
To Madame Georges-Denis Weil:
"To my dear Aunt with a request to skip the indecent pages and not to deprive her nephew fully of respect. With love and honor, Marcel Proust."
To unknown recipient:
"To create a love for the dried flowers of the lime tree. Marcel Proust."
To unknown recipient:
"With all my best wishes for that beautiful work and in the wish that your children might travel the way of Happiness. Marcel Proust."
To unknown recipient: Jacques Hébertot[??] (Jan 1917) [name blacked out]
"With cordial respects to Monsieur [...]
January 1917
Marcel Proust."
To unknown recipient:
"Ever your loving M.P."
[original written in English]
Unsigned copy "Hommage de l'auteur":
Other known dedicatees: Léon Daudet, Jacques Copeau, André Gide, Gaston Gallimard, Paul Claudel, Mme de Noailles, Horace Finaly, Paul Ernest Hervieu, Jacques Bizet, Reynaldo Hahn, Maurice Mayer (looted by Nazis), Pierre Loti, Henri Duvernois, Rosemonde Gérard, Albert Flament, Élie-Joseph Bois, Jacques Hébertot, Emmanuel Berl, Mineguishi (Comte Joachim Clary's Japanese valet), Emile Hovelaque, Mme de Porto-Riche, Pierre Hepp, Giuseppe Borgese, Charles Mayer, Maurice Mayer, Jean Ajalbert, Henri Vonoven, André Beaunier.
Created 10.11.22
Updated 07.05.24