Capitalissime issime issime1
for the last chapter of the book:
I easily consoled myself on account of my good fortune. When a stage designer such as Bakst succeeds in creating the appearance of the richest costumes thanks to the play of light on strips of paper, what need would the author who creates beauty at will on sheets of blank paper have for collections, a palace like that of the Prince de Guermantes. This truth was reinforced for me by this other, that even in such a palace, that which was useful for what I wished to construct was not to be found in any of the marvels amongst which I had found myself without hardly looking at them, each time I came to visit the Prince, and which formed around him as it had around his ancestors a frame that was actually worth millions. No the elements that I wanted to appropriate for myself, and that in effect I had purloined, were the tinkling of a spoon against my plate, the feel of a napkin, the aging of a face. The Prince had nothing to fear that the monument I was about to construct was a faithful copy of his. Would it be appreciated? would it be a tasteful monument, I did not know. But truly it would demand great expenditure.
1. Proust often highlighted notes he considered very important as Capital or Capitalissime.
From N.A.F. 27350, 202v°.