Denis ROCHE (1868-1951). Approx. 150 L.A.S. or L.A. (mainly - Lot 497

Denis ROCHE (1868-1951). Approx. 150 L.A.S. or L.A. (mainly drafts or minutes) and autograph manuscripts, and approx. 170 letters addressed to him (mostly L.A.S.), 1930-1950. Extensive correspondence concerning his literary and art-historical activities. Born in Oradour-sur-Vayres (Haute-Vienne), Maurice Denis Roche studied law and began his literary career with a collection of Contes limousins (1902). He became interested in Russia and art history, publishing in 1913 a major work on French Furniture in Russia, and translating numerous Russian authors (from Chekhov to the young Valdimir Nabokov); an associate member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, and contributor to several Russian periodicals, including Novoié Vremia, before 1918, he also wrote in France for several newspapers and magazines, from the Gazette des Beaux-Arts to the Revue des deux mondes and the Figaro. He ended his life at the Roquefraîche sanatorium in Lauris (Vaucluse). An important dossier is devoted to his research on art in Russia, with numerous working notes (including lists of works) and drafts of notices on artists, including a copy of the dossier on the engraver Louis Bonnet; and to a project for a Dictionary of French Artists, commissioned by Jacques Doucet and the Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie, and which will give rise to a trial, with letters (and copies of letters) from Russian correspondents, and from Doucet's librarians and secretaries and art historians: Henri Bourin, Léon Deshairs, André Girodie, René Jean, l'abbé Macault, Mirko Pretnar, Édouard Sarradin, Albert Vuaflart, etc., and numerous drafts or minutes of letters concerning the elaboration of the Dictionary, then on the conflict with Doucet... It is the bâtonnier Georges Guillaumin (34 l., and numerous letters and copies from Roche) who will defend Roche in his lawsuit against Jacques Doucet, also taking care of his interests concerning his son André... Roche was also in contact with literary figures: Paul Ellmar (2), Frédéric Masson, François Porché (11), Maurice Sachs (4), etc. One of Roche's main supporters was Raymond Réthoré: 33 letters, from 1929 to 1934, often long, written notably from his château de la Mercerie, or on the letterhead of his newspapers La Charente and La Petite Charente, where he published Roche's texts; in a reply (January 7, 1934), Roche praised the "charming Nabokov, a happy boy full of talent, and 'under 30'"...