Dans ma bibliothèque à Milan

The French writer Stendhal, born Marie-Henri Beyle (1783 - 1842), was a consul in Civitavecchia from 1831 until his death, which happened suddenly during a trip to France in 1842. The Bucci family, who had hosted Stendhal in Civitavecchia during his years at the Consulate, looked after his assets in the Papal States for exactly a century before deciding to sell them to Federico Gentile in 1942. Finally, in 1969, the president of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, Raffaele Mattioli (1895 - 1973), negotiated the purchase of the Bucci Stendhal Collection in order to donate it to Milan's Municipal Library, where it was permanently rehoused on 14th April, 1970.

The Bucci Stendhal Collection consists of 2,793 items, including:around 1,200 volumes, pamphlets and magazine issues (of which almost a thousand belonged to Stendhal); letters, documents and manuscripts;an oil portrait painted in Rome in 1835 by the artist Jean-Louis Ducis; two wooden bookcases and some relics, including a walking stick and a wooden tin containing handwritten notes by the French writer, clear proof of Stendhal's irresistible urge to write wherever he went.

The Bucci Stendhal Collection

Stendhal's graphomania is mainly evidenced by the numerous annotations, marginalia and glosses that fill the covers, the margins and sometimes entire pages (or interleaves) of about half the volumes in his library (458 out of a total of 987). In these brief and sometimes deliberately enigmatic notes, the writer spontaneously jots down moments from his daily, private, social and professional life, just as in a real "diary".

“to M Beyle [Marie-Henri, dit Stendhal]
Bandello
Milano 1820.
per un Virgilio.”

Between 1814 and 1821, Stendhal spent long periods in Milan, falling in love with the city for its lively art and culture.In June 1821, however, he was forced to leave the Lombard capital in haste because he was wanted by the Austrian police due to his links with the Carbonari. The French writer entrusted his manuscripts and the volumes from his library to his friend Luigi Buzzi, in the hope of being able to recover them shortly. He managed to return to his beloved Milan for a very short period in January 1828, taking with him some volumes of particular importance.

“Le 12 Janvier 1828
J [I] was in 1000an [Milan]
je prends Bandello [Matteo]
dans ma bibliothèque. 1828.”

Vittorio Alfieri (1749 - 1803) was one of the Italian authors who most influenced Henri Beyle, "although over the years his opinions of him, as expressed in his works, varied." (B. Pincherle)

“Alfieri [Vittorio].
the same édition
que rue d'Angiviliers
en 1803.
5 9b [Novembre] 37 [1837].”

“en 1832, je vois Naples, Florence etc
Pescara, Chietti [Chieti] etc.”

“pour cette forme simple, c'est leLivre le plus véridique.”

“épigraphe
of
this boock [book].
=== 49
Vedi tutta di guerre e di congiure
Ardere Italia; e tanti aver tiranni
Quante ha cittadi, e variar destino
Come varia stagioni. Oggi comanda
Chi jer fu Servo, ed un Marcel diventa
Ogni villan che parteggiando viene.”

“Vers la fin, article Milan.
Le bonheur est contagieux. Si vous
voulez être heureux vivez au milieu de
gens heureux. Je ne voudrais pas
pour tout l'or du monde me trouver
pour lontems [longtemps] à Rome ou à Turin, et
j'habiterais volontiers Milan. Par une
combinaison ^+^ heureuse et probablement
passagère, dans cette ville, les revenus
de la pluspart des gens se trouvent
surpasser leurs dépenses. D'ailleurs la
pauvreté n'y est pas honte. D.que [Dominique]”

“Je vois en déchirant le
premier Ms. [Manuscrit] que ce Roman
fait en 7 jours a été
commencé le 30 ou 31
Janvier, 1825 je crois.”

“Je cherche des epigraphes
le 25 mai 1830
Corrigeant la 9e [neuvième] feuille de
Julien [Le Rouge et le Noire].
L'epigraphe doit
augmenter la sensation
l'emotion du lecteur, si
emotion il peut y avoir, et non
pas présenter un jugement
plus ou moins φilosophique [philosophique] sur la
Situation. idée de mai 1830.”

“Je n'ai pas ouvert this boock [book]
après Paris, et ne l'ouvrirai de longtems [longtemps].
J'ai la paresse d'écrire”