Roland DORGELÈS. - Lot 94

Roland DORGELÈS. Autograph manuscript, Partir...; approx. 680 leaves in-4 (22 x 17 cm), mitered and bound in two volumes in-4, ivory vellum, painted title on smooth spine (Ad. Lavaux). Complete working manuscript of this novel, published in 1926 by Albin Michel. Dorgelès drew inspiration for this novel from his trip to Indochina, which takes place during the crossing from Marseille to Saigon via the Suez Canal, on a Messageries maritimes liner. The narrator describes life on board and the various ports of call. A young man, Jacques Largy, has embarked with his mistress Manon, after committing murder. Arrested in Singapore, he throws himself into the sea and dies. The novel is dedicated to Pierre Mac Orlan. A film will be based on the novel, directed by Maurice Tourneur. The manuscript is written in violet ink. It features numerous and extensive erasures and corrections, with some passages crossed out, and numerous glued-on blocks. Abandoned drafts can be seen on the verso of some pages. It is dated at the end of August 8, 1926. It is paginated chapter by chapter (continuous pagination for chapters X-XI). It is divided as follows: I L'ancre est levée, II Connaissances, III Mes amis vivants et les autres, IV Manon à Port-Saïd, V La Bohême dans le Canal, VI En Mer Rouge, VII Blonde et brune ou la journée à Djibouti, VIII Sur la route des Indes, IX Une fête à bord, X Au Paradis terrestre, XI Fuira-t-il?XII M. Prater fait le bien, XIII L'offrande dans la nuit, [XIV] La fin du voyage, and the conclusion: "This is the end of the voyage" ....