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Friday, February 19, 2010
Most
Expensive Written Manuscript - Giacamo Casanova's autobiography
sets world record
PARIS, France -- The French government bought
the manuscript of the autobiography of the legendary Italian
womaniser and adventurer Giacamo Casanova for $9.5
million (7 million euros) - setting the new world record for
the Most
Expensive Written Manuscript.
Photo: The first page of The Story Of
My Life', written by the 18th-century libertine Giacomo Casanova
is displayed at the French culture ministry in Paris. AP Photo/Remy
de la Mauviniere
(enlarge
photo)
The world's Most
Expensive Written Manuscript , dating from around
the time of the French Revolution, is believed to be the only
one in existence, and details the life of an 18th-century
libertine who frequented most of the great courts of Enlightenment
Europe. Written in French and covering 3,700 pages,
The memoirs, "The
Story of My Life," had been in the hands of one of
Germany's most prominent publishing families for nearly two
centuries.
The world's Most
Expensive Written Manuscript was acquired by the Brockhaus
family in 1820, hidden by Frederic-Arnold Brockhaus during
World War II, then carried by an American military truck in
1945 out of Leipzig. It was finally published in 1960.
His writings were banned by the Church,
his life the story of one sexual adventure after another.
France's National Library was delighted to announce that it
had acquired the handwritten memoirs of Giacomo Girolamo Casanova,
often called the world's greatest lover.
The Story of My Life is the most
expensive manuscript ever acquired by the National Library.
An anonymous French donor stepped in after a two-year search
to finance the €7m ($9.6m, £6m) purchase, hailed as a major
cultural acquisition by the government.
Art advisor Christoph Graf Douglas said the negotiations
over the conditions and price of the sale lasted two and a
half years.
Bruno Racine, President of the National
Library, said the manuscript was a "mythic" text that was
both one of the best and worst known in literary history.
The memoirs are as erotic as their reputation,
says Mr Racine, and remain "shocking even today". But Casanova's
real talent went beyond mere titillation, and included an
acute observation of 18th-century social life.
Casanova is famous for his accounts
of the serial seductions he committed across Europe during
his multi-faceted career as lawyer, priest, violinist, soldier
and professional gambler.
Though almost 500 versions have been
published since the Venetian-born adventurer died in 1798,
aged 73, only two had been based on the original text. The
Library plans to make the uncensored manuscript available
online "within months" and an international exhibition is
planned for 2011.
The previous Guinness world record for
such a purchase was the 3.6 million euros, including fees
and commissions, that was paid for the manuscript of Andre
Breton's Manifesto of Surrealism in 2008.
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Friday, February 19, 2010
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