Sade's Reading List
SADE, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de. Autograph note addressed to his wife, Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil. [Vincennes fortress.] 15 October 1783.
Single leaf (c. 155 x 100 mm), pp. [2], comprising 38 lines written in dark brown ink; a few small stains to verso but generally very good.
An apparently unpublished autograph note by the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) addressed to his wife, listing items he requested from prison, primarily books.
On 26 August 1778, Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, was arrested at his château in La Coste, Provence, on charges of sexual violence and libertine excesses, and subsequently imprisoned in the fortress of Vincennes. From his cell, he remained prolific, maintaining an extensive correspondence – primarily with his wife, Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil (1763-1813) – and continuing work on Voyage d’Italie and several plays. In the summer of 1782, he wrote Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribund and began Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l’école du libertinage. When Vincennes closed in February 1784, he was transferred to the Bastille, where he produced a fair copy of Sodom (the so-called “rouleau de la Bastille”), now regarded as his first major work.
An insatiable reader, Sade regularly consulted the catalogue of the bookseller Mérigot le Jeune, whose shop stood at the corner of Quai des Augustins (now Quai des Grands-Augustins) and Rue Pavée (now Rue Séguier). He selected works on history, science, philosophy, and travel, which he ordered through his wife. In this note to her, he requested essential items for prison life, including writing and reading materials: a “blank book,” a “table mat,” and the “night candles of the largest size”. Among his reading requests were works by François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d’Arnaud (1718-1805), Jacques Delille (1738-1813), Claude Joseph Dorat (1734-1780), and Jean François de Saint-Lambert (1716-1803), as well as Le Décaméron français by Louis d’Ussieux (1744-1804). Of these authors, Dorat stands out for his affinity with libertine themes, having gained renown for his erotic poetry, plays, and novels, including the epistolary seduction novel Les Malheurs de l’inconstance (1772).
The text of the note runs as follows:
liste du 15 octobre 1783.
je prie qu’on envoie les objets avant
les fetes.
Le livre blanc, tel quil est detaillé dans
le lettres
des pastilles arabiques eprouvées avant
de les envoyer.
Le linge demandé
encore trois pieces d’estomac.
L’etui.
Un tapis de table aux mesures envoyées.
Deux rubans de tete.
Des bougies de nuit de la plus grande taille.
La petite boite du necessaire, objet sur lequel
il est bon de faire une observation, c’est quil
ne m’est nécessaire quici, et que dehors je n’en
ai que faire.
Le coussin pour le croupion essentiellement.
Les douze paires de bas.
Deux bouteilles de vin de peche.
Suite du bon empire
suite de l’histoire de france
suite du voiyageur.
Les almanachs et les Comédies nouvelles.
Œuvres de darnaud
de dorat. – de st lambert – de lille –
le decameron françois vingt volumes de
roman nouveaux de 1777 à 17783 [sic].
[verso:]
envoyez de ces livres les au moins
vingt ou trente volumes, parce que j’en
manque tres absolument et tres au pied
de la lettre. Je ne vous demande point
de quinzaine expres, afin que vous
m’envoyiez a la place, des livres don’t
je ne peux plus absolument me passer 8 jours
surtout ceux de seconde – lecture don’t
j’ai encore pour la semaine et pas davantage
Je vous embrasse de tout mon cœur
List of 15 October 1783
I pray that the items be sent before the holidays.
The blank book, as detailed in the letters.
The Arabic pastilles, tested before being sent.
The requested linen.
Three more stomach pieces.
The case.
A table man to the measurements sent.
Two head ribbons.
Night candles of the largest size.
The small necessity box, an item on which it is worth making an observation: it is only necessary for me here, and outside I have no use for it.
The cushion for the rump, essential.
Twelve pairs of stockings.
Two bottles of peach wine.
Continuation of the Bon empire
Continuation of the History of France.
Continuation of the Voyageur.
The almanacs and the new comedies.
Works of d’Arnaud.
Of Dorat – of Saint-Lambert – of Delille.
The Décaméron français.
Twenty volumes of new novels from 1777 to 1783.
[verso:]
Send at least twenty or thirty volumes of these books, for I am in absolute need of them, and that in the strictest sense. I do not request fortnightly shipment on purpose, so that instead you may send books without which I absolutely cannot do for even eight days – especially those for second reading, of which I have enough for the week and no more.
I kiss you with all my heart.
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