Mallarme?: Pages and A Throw of the DicePublished on State Library of NSW (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au)

Research [1]

Poe?me: un coup de de?s jamais n'abolira de hasard, par Ste?phane Mallarme?, Ed?itions de la Nouvelle revuefranc?aise, 1914, State Library of New South Wales RHQ/1003

Scholars regard Ste?phane Mallarme? (1842-1898)? as one of France's pre-eminent poets and I was excited tocome across two of his rarest publications here in the State Library of New South Wales collections.

One of these is the groundbreaking 1897 poem, Un coup de de?s jamais n'abolira de hasard or A throw of the dicewill never abolish chance. This ambitious work is full of esoteric symbolism and disjointed syntax written in freeverse. It also disregards typographical conventions such as left alignment and uniform type. As you can seefrom the image the text cascades across the pages with some words and phrases emphasized through a largerfont size while others switch between roman and italic type. A version was published in 1897 in the literary review Cosmopolis but it was not until 1914, 16 years after hisdeath, that it was printed in a book form which reflected Mallarmé's exacting vision for the typographical layout andformat of the poem. Before his death Mallarme? had worked on a deluxe edition, illustrated with lithographsby Odilon Redon [2], with the firm of Lahure. This deluxe edition was abandoned after his death. The proof sheetsand prints were sold by the publisher.

Upon seeing proofs for the poem, the French poet, essayist, and philosopher, Paul Valery [3] wrote,

It seemed to me that I was looking at the form and pattern of a thought, placed for the first time in finitespace. Here space itself truly spoke, dreamed, and gave birth to temporal forms. Expectancy, doubt,consternation, all were visible things. . . . There amid murmurs, insinuations, visual thunder, a wholespiritual tempest carried page by page to the extremes of thought, to a point of ineffable rupture - there themarvel took place; there on the very paper some indescribable scintillation of final stars trembled infinitelypure in an inter-conscious void; and there on the same void with them, like some new form of matter

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Mallarme?: Pages and A Throw of the DicePublished on State Library of NSW (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au)

arranged in systems or masses or trailing lines, coexisted the Word! I was struck dumb by thisunprecedented arrangement. It was as if a new asterism had proffered itself in the heavens; as if aconstellation had at last assumed a meaning. Was I not witnessing an event of universal importance, andwas it not, in some measure, an ideal enactment of the Creation of Language that was being presented tome on this table at this last minute, by this individual, this rash explorer, this mild and simple man who wasso unaffectedly noble and charming by nature?

Front Matter: un coup de de?s jamais n'abolira de hasard, par Ste?phane Mallarme?, Ed?itions de la Nouvellerevue franc?aise, 1914, State Library of New South Wales RHQ/1003

In 1911, Gaston [4]Gallimard [4] decided to publish 'A Throw of the Dice...'. This text was prepared for publicationby Mallarmé's son-in-law Edmond [5]Bonniot [5], and includes some of the poet's last corrections andrecommendations.

The first edition of 1000 copies was printed at L'Imprimerie Sainte Catherine in Bruges on July 10, 1914. Of these,10 copies were printed on Montval paper [6] and a further 90 copies were printed on Vélin d'Arches [7] paper; bothwere bound in Japanese parchment paper wrappers.

The remaining 900 copies were printed and bound using ordinary paper.

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Mallarme?: Pages and A Throw of the DicePublished on State Library of NSW (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au)

Stephane Mallarme, Pages, frontispiece etching by Auguste Rnoir, 1891 State Library of New South Wales,TQ057331

There are two copies of this book in the library (RHQ/1003 and TQ056711). The copy pictured on the left wasdonated to the library as a part of the Randolph Hughes Collection of French and Pre-Raphaelite Literature [8].Loose inside the front cover, and alongside the Hughes' bookplate, is an interesting set of documents. Theseinclude an early twentieth-century vintage print of an unidentified man, a published exegesis on Mallarme? and anewspaper clipping of Mallarme's obituary written by Henri Mondor.

The second rare publication is Pages, a collection of Mallarme? poems published in 1891. The main feature in theprinting of this book is the copper etching of a young woman in the frontispiece, drawn by the impressionist,Auguste Renoir (1841-1919). Renoir was a great friend of Mallarmé who was a supporter of modern painting andpublished his thoughts on the subject in numerous articles. To thank Mallarme? for this support, Manet and Renoirillustrated some of his poems and painted portraits of him. This publication had a very limited print run. TheLibrary's copy is listed as being "No’ 73 of 275"

References:Mallarme?, S. (1914). Poe?me : Un coup de de?s [9]jamais [9] [9]n'abolira [9] de [9]hasard [9]. [9] Paris:Ed?itions de la Nouvelle revue franc?aise.Mallarme?, S. (1891).,Pages [10], Ste?phane Mallarme?. Bruxelles: Edmond DemanMallarme?, S., & Weinfield, H. (1994). Collected poems / Ste?phane [11]Mallarme? [11]; translated, and with acommentary by Henry Weinfield. Berkeley: University of California Press.Jeremy Glazier, Los Angeles Review of Books, Un Coup d’idées [12]: A New Translation of Mallarmé’s “A Roll ofthe Dice.

Author

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Mallarme?: Pages and A Throw of the DicePublished on State Library of NSW (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au)

Geoff Barker, Senior Curator, Research and Discovery, State Library of New South Wales, 2018

Source URL:https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/mallarme-pages-and-throw-dice

Links[1] http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs?topic%5B0%5D=17481 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Val%C3%A9ry [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Gallimard [5]https://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=en&n=bonniot&p=edmond [6]http://en.canson.com/watercolour/canson-montval [7] http://www.arches-papers.com/velin-darches-arches-cover/ [8] https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/randolph-hughes-collection [9] https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=SLNSW_ALMA21116866700002626&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US [10] https://primo-slnsw.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=SLNSW_ALMA21123150080002626&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US.%C2%A0&_ga=2.198500010.421340041.1539121557-648801029.1525927822 [11] https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=SLNSW_ALMA21105745110002626&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US [12]https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/un-coup-didees-a-new-translation-of-mallarmes-a-roll-of-the-dice/#!

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