I hung out with Camille and Lucile yesterday

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

I wanted to share this and I felt this community would really be the only ones to fully appreciate it. Like I've said, I'm living in Paris now, which gives me the opportunity to do a lot of amazing French Revolution stuff. Yesterday I read through the original papers of Camille and Lucile. It was all sorts of stuff, from Camille's diploma from Louis-le-Grand, his letters to his father, the original handwritten copy of the 7th Vieux Cordelier, his final letters to Lucile, to Lucile's journal, Fréron's letters to her, her letters to her mother, and her final farewell notes to her mother written on little scraps of paper. Robespierre's correction letter for Revs de France et Brabant from 1790 or 91 was there, along with Camille's response written at the bottom. I stared at it for a long time because there was an ink smudge with a fingerprint at the top by the salutation and I was like "Whoa, it's Robespierre's fingerprint." Saint-Just's fanboy letter was there. Camille's last letter to Lucile is there and is almost illegibly smudged with tear stains. It was interesting to see that there is a whole bunch of his correspondence that has been omitted even from Matton's huge "Complete Works." I found a complete letter from his father I'd never seen before and lots of their correspondence concerning personal things has been omitted in publication. Camille did actually spend a lot more time writing about his brothers, he seems to have been closer to them than biographies usually let on. That said, there was one fabulous moment when he had to ask his father what his brother's name was so he could look him up in the army. He didn't know the full five-name name, so his dad had to tell him ;-). There was also a letter from Annette Duplessis that I didn't know existed in which she's begging Robespierre for help to save Lucile. Her famous "kill us all you monster" letter was not actually there, so I assume it's kept with Robespierre's papers.

The other thing that amazed me is how incredibly illegible all of these people's handwriting was. Jesus Christ. I'm half convinced that Matton, or whoever did the first official compilation and publication of Camille's work, just made shit up when he couldn't read the writing and other historians just worked off his printed copies because the originals are nuts. I looked and looked and I certainly couldn't find "Je vais mourir" in Camille's last line in the final letter to Lucile. It's probably there, but I can't get over how awful his handwriting was. ;-) Robespierre stands out as having amazingly legible writing. Let's not even talk about Lucile...

Anyway, I just had to gush about that. It was absolutely amazing.

Comments

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Oooh - I'm very, very jealous! Do you need a postgraduate reader permission thing to see them?

I came across something along the lines of academics repeating a misprint just last week (I think it was something Dostoevsky-related)so it probably happens a lot!

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

Nope. They are held in the manuscript collection of the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris. You need a card for the BHVP (which is a bit of a fun process) and to fill out a manuscript request form 48 hours in advance.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

How did you manage to get the card in the first place? Because since, if all goes according to plan, I'm going to be spending the year after next in Paris as well, and it would be great to be able to see some of that stuff. (Of course, since I'll be officially studying history there, they might tell me in any case, but it's nice to know in advance...)

Interestingly, the only letter mentioned in Robespierre's correspondance from Mme Duplessis seems to be the one you're referring to, though all it says on the matter is:

CCCLXXIII

Mme Duplessis à Robespierre (sans date)

Elle implore Robespierre en faveur de Lucile qui va être conduite à l'échafaud.

(MATTON, [Correspondance inédite de Camille Desmoulins, p. 238).

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

(Of course, since I'll be officially studying history there, they might tell me in any case, but it's nice to know in advance...)

When in France, it is always better to know ahead of time. No one likes explaining things.

Bring a passport-sized photo and id (pref your passport). They'll have some fun forms for you to fill out.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I've not really run into that problem much in France, but then, I like knowing things ahead of time, so I've rarely had to ask.

[palais.livejournal.com]

Absolutely amazing, indeed. I quite envy you such an opportunity. How are you accessing this material, if I may ask?

[livviebway.livejournal.com]

It's at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris. (see above ;-))

[citoyenneclark.livejournal.com]

Their handwriting is insane. I found a letter written by Barere on ebay, and one can't read it. (Seriously, I wonder where they would have gotten if they lived today, and had to take those standardized written essay tests.)

[simply-kelp.livejournal.com]

O, I am so envious of you! I hope that I can one day see them too...

(And whenever anyone complains about my abysmal handwriting, I tell them that it is can be sign of genius, because *Camille* had poor handwriting, and look at him...)

[wolfshadow713.livejournal.com]

That's amazing. There's something about a physical connection to history--artifacts, documents, places...


re handwriting: It seems pretty easy to assume that historically people must have had good handwriting, because so many things were handwritten, making modern bad handwriting seem like degeneration. So, recalling examples of how handwriting has always been bad certainly helps to vindicate those of us who fail to write legibly today. So saith someone who once got a yes/no question on a math exam wrong due to bad handwriting...

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

After having ready your entry, I was over the point to faint...I imagine how you must have feel seeing the original writing of Camille and reading the documents you quoted. I think that after reading his last letter, I must have to gulp down. Just thinking he KNEW he will die and he couldn't do nothing to avoid it!

I'm very envious of you (hahaha...No. It's just a joke), but I'm really happy you could be there and having acces to all these precious documents. They are little jewels!

Good luck in your researchs!
HanriotFran.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh, damn, wow! God, to have the actual documents in your hands...