Overview
- The Bibliothèque nationale de France opened an exceptional public subscription on September 17 to raise €7.7 million, with donations accepted until December 31.
- The trove comprises nearly 900 items, including previously unpublished drafts of À la recherche du temps perdu, poems, drawings, articles and letters.
- The materials were presented at Sotheby's in Paris and are offered for sale by the heirs of a niece of Marcel Proust.
- Drafts tracing the famous madeleine episode show four versions between 1907 and 1909, evolving from stale bread to toast to rusk to the final madeleine.
- BnF president Gilles Pécout called the discovery an event for France and said the acquisition would make the institution the world's largest Proust repository.