January 2025
Raymond Chandler – A 5-Page Autograph letter mentioning Agatha Christie (twice) and in defence of "The Long Goodbye", signed and written in French, together with a critical essay about Chandler by Robert Champigny
15-01-25
No Place (La Jolla), No Date (1957-58). The first leaf of the letter is toned, some creasing and wear to the original article, but still in near fine condition.
In this long letter, which is a draft and differs considerably from the published version in the Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler (pp. 471-473), Chandler responds to a critical essay about him by Robert Champigny published in “Critique, No. 127: Revue générale des publications Françaises et étrangères” (Paris: Editions de Minuit, December 1957), titled “Raymond Chandler et Le Roman Policier [the Detective Novel].”
Champigny’s article, extracted from the journal, is present. Chandler's response is written in ink, addressed to “Cher Monsieur Champigny,” signed in full “Raymond Chandler” at the end, and is five pages on 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch (21 x 14 cm) sheets.
A long autograph letter from Chandler to a French critic. The letter touches on some of the same themes he broached in his famous essay about the detective genre, The Simple Art of Murder (The Atlantic, December 1944), and also includes a staunch defense of his novel, The Long Goodbye. The letter is written entirely in French and is a good example of the author's fluency in the language.
Chandler responds to an article by Robert Champigny, who argues that the American genre of hardboiled detective fiction is in a state of decline. After an overwhelmingly positive review of Chandler's past oeuvre and style, discussed in comparison with the “classic” English style of detective fiction, Champigny offers a blunt critique of Chandler's The Long Goodbye, calling it “an error... marking the dissolution of the genre.” The critic argues that this is because the book’s plot lacks unity, and Chandler abandons certain aesthetic conventions of the genre in favour of an increased focus on his characters’ psychologies. Chandler begins his response to this critique with an expression of gratitude at what Champigny has written, and he explains that Hamish Hamilton, his publisher, had given him the article. He makes an apology, rather unnecessarily, for his written French, before launching into his rebuttal. Chandler humbly states that “after thirty-five years of making an effort to write a book that seems to me to be almost good ... I am still a student ... [and] at a hundred years (very possibly) I will still be a student who distrusts himself.” Chandler then criticizes the conventions of English Golden Age detective fiction, especially Agatha Christie’s way of unfairly misleading her readers about the murderer – “a character who is at first presented in a false mask” – only to suddenly reveal them at the end of the story. He writes, “Me, I view this method as ridiculous.” Finally, he defends his book against Champigny’s critique – “it seems to me a bit strange. Almost everyone is of the idea that this book is the best I've written.” Nonetheless, Chandler agrees with Champigny’s diagnosis of the poor state of hardboiled fiction – “I don't contest your opinion that the American-style detective novel is almost dead. The writers seem to me to be always more and more mechanical.”
With a perfect record of provenance from The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler.
Please note that any lengthy writing in Chandler’s hand is quite scarce. Anything signed by him with his full name even more so. And anything mentioning Agatha Christie must be considered rare. And in French? Unheard of … CHF 5'750
In this long letter, which is a draft and differs considerably from the published version in the Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler (pp. 471-473), Chandler responds to a critical essay about him by Robert Champigny published in “Critique, No. 127: Revue générale des publications Françaises et étrangères” (Paris: Editions de Minuit, December 1957), titled “Raymond Chandler et Le Roman Policier [the Detective Novel].”
Champigny’s article, extracted from the journal, is present. Chandler's response is written in ink, addressed to “Cher Monsieur Champigny,” signed in full “Raymond Chandler” at the end, and is five pages on 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch (21 x 14 cm) sheets.
A long autograph letter from Chandler to a French critic. The letter touches on some of the same themes he broached in his famous essay about the detective genre, The Simple Art of Murder (The Atlantic, December 1944), and also includes a staunch defense of his novel, The Long Goodbye. The letter is written entirely in French and is a good example of the author's fluency in the language.
Chandler responds to an article by Robert Champigny, who argues that the American genre of hardboiled detective fiction is in a state of decline. After an overwhelmingly positive review of Chandler's past oeuvre and style, discussed in comparison with the “classic” English style of detective fiction, Champigny offers a blunt critique of Chandler's The Long Goodbye, calling it “an error... marking the dissolution of the genre.” The critic argues that this is because the book’s plot lacks unity, and Chandler abandons certain aesthetic conventions of the genre in favour of an increased focus on his characters’ psychologies. Chandler begins his response to this critique with an expression of gratitude at what Champigny has written, and he explains that Hamish Hamilton, his publisher, had given him the article. He makes an apology, rather unnecessarily, for his written French, before launching into his rebuttal. Chandler humbly states that “after thirty-five years of making an effort to write a book that seems to me to be almost good ... I am still a student ... [and] at a hundred years (very possibly) I will still be a student who distrusts himself.” Chandler then criticizes the conventions of English Golden Age detective fiction, especially Agatha Christie’s way of unfairly misleading her readers about the murderer – “a character who is at first presented in a false mask” – only to suddenly reveal them at the end of the story. He writes, “Me, I view this method as ridiculous.” Finally, he defends his book against Champigny’s critique – “it seems to me a bit strange. Almost everyone is of the idea that this book is the best I've written.” Nonetheless, Chandler agrees with Champigny’s diagnosis of the poor state of hardboiled fiction – “I don't contest your opinion that the American-style detective novel is almost dead. The writers seem to me to be always more and more mechanical.”
With a perfect record of provenance from The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler.
Please note that any lengthy writing in Chandler’s hand is quite scarce. Anything signed by him with his full name even more so. And anything mentioning Agatha Christie must be considered rare. And in French? Unheard of … CHF 5'750
Raymond Chandler “Making a gold inlay” – 6-page original typescript with corrections in the author’s hand, written around 1941-42 in preparation for his novel The High Window
15-01-25 Filed in: Books
No Place, No date. Original 6-page typescript (each page 14 by 21.5cm) with 10 pencilled-in corrections in Raymond Chandler’s hand. Slightly creased, browned and with staple holes to the top, but still in near fine condition.
This document describes the process of making gold inlays in great detail, but more importantly also describes the moulding of gold coins.
A lot of this information made its way into Chandler’s third novel The High Window. In the novel (p. 132) it says: “The bill was for 30 lbs. Kerr’s Crystobolite $15.75, and 25 lbs. White’s Albastone $7.75, plus tax.” In this typescript the price is given as follows: “This (pencilled in by hand “stuff”) costs $1.55 for five pounds. The crystobolite costs $4.35 for ten pounds.” From this we can safely assume that this typescript dates from before the publication of The High Window in 1942. Any original material relating to any of Chandler’s major publications is scarce. With a perfect record of provenance from The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler. CHF 1’500