Léon DAUDET (1867-1942) Autograph manuscript signed, Le Mort saisit le vif [Devant la Douleur], 1914; 4-227 pages in-fol. Second volume of Léon Daudet's fascinating memoirs. Published at the Nouvelle Librairie Nationale in 1915 under the title Devant la Douleur, these "souvenirs of literary, political, artistic and medical circles from 1880 to 1905, 2nd series" (according to the subtitle), run from 1886 to 1887. Daudet evokes his medical studies, the École de Médecine, the Salpêtrière, Professor Potain (to whom the book is dedicated), Charcot, Zola, Maupassant, the beginnings of the Antoine theater, Clemenceau, General Boulanger, the Lamoureux concerts and "wagnerism," his father's cures at Lamalou-les-Bains, his military service, etc. The manuscript, in a folder with the original title Le Mort saisit le vif, is dated at the end of July 9, 1914, is complete and includes the eight chapters of the book; it presents erasures and corrections.