Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de . Autograph note addressed to his wife, Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil.

by SADE

£5,500 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

Sade's Reading List SADE, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de . Autograph note addressed to his wife, Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil. [Vincennes fortress.] 15 October 1783. Single leaf (c. 155 x 100 mm), pp. [2], comprising 38 lines written in dark brown ink; a few small stains to verso but generally very good. An apparently unpublished autograph note by the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) addressed to his wife, listing items he requested from prison, primarily books. On 26 August 1778, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, was arrested at his château in La Coste, Provence, on charges of sexual violence and libertine excesses, and subsequently imprisoned in the fortress of Vincennes. From his cell, he remained prolific, maintaining an extensive correspondence – primarily with his wife, Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil (1763-1813) – and continuing work on Voyage d’Italie and several plays. In the summer of 1782, he wrote Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribund and began Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l’école du libertinage . When Vincennes closed in February 1784, he was transferred to the Bastille, where he produced a fair copy of Sodom (the so-called “rouleau de la Bastille”), now regarded as his first major work. An insatiable reader, Sade regularly consulted the catalogue of the bookseller Mérigot le Jeune, whose shop stood at the corner of Quai des Augustins (now Quai des Grands-Augustins) and Rue Pavée (now Rue Séguier). He selected works on history, science, philosophy, and

• Binding: Hardcover

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