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[BRASSENS] FALLET, René (1927-1983)
La Dame du Luxembourg
1972, Raymond Marquès printing house, 8 stapled pp. in-12°
Extremely rare first edition, enhanced with a highly valuable inscription to Georges Brassens
EUR 1.600,-
Fact sheet
[BRASSENS] FALLET, René (1927-1983)
La Dame du Luxembourg
1972, Raymond Marquès printing house, 8 stapled pp. in-12°
Soft cover, pink paper
Original non-commercial edition, limited to 24 copies, this one numbered « B »
Copy in mint condition apart from a small tear in the upper margin of the cover
Extremely rare first edition, enhanced with a highly valuable inscription to Georges Brassens
Copy printed nominatively for Georges Brassens, with the imprint on the page preceding the half-title: « exemplaire de m. georges brassens »
On the half-title page, René Fallet inscribes this autograph dedication to his friend: « À toi Georges, cette rose rouge (pas pour Jeanne) sur un caveau blond. En souvenir, ces remembrances d’un vieillard idiot. René Fallet. »
In 1969, René Fallet met « Else », a Franco-Danish blonde woman, illustrator and wife of a renowned artist. This encounter triggers in him an intense passion, which will inspire the writing of what is arguably his most accomplished novel, L’Amour baroque. Else thereafter occupies a central place in his imagination. Their separation plunges Fallet into a deep depression, requiring hospitalisation. This passionate relationship would inspire not only his novel, but also several poems, including « La Dame du Luxembourg ».
Brassens, Jeanne and René:
Requisitioned under the Occupation for compulsory labour service (S.T.O.) in Germany, Brassens is granted leave in March 1944. Refusing to return to Germany, he is taken in by Marcel and Jeanne Planche in a modest house located at 9 impasse Florimont, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. In the small courtyard, a veritable menagerie takes shape: dogs, cats, canaries, tortoises, a buzzard… and the famous duck he would later celebrate in a song. Brassens would remain there for twenty-two years. He also pays tribute to his hostess in the song Jeanne (female counterpart to Chanson pour l’Auvergnat), released on the album Les Trompettes de la renommée in 1962. René Fallet and Georges Brassens met in 1953 and regularly used to meet at Jeanne’s home.
Provenance: Estate of Sophie Duvernoy (1930–2025)
A discreet yet essential figure within Georges Brassens’s inner circle, Sophie Duvernoy entered his service in 1969 after having worked for the illustrator Raymond Peynet. She referred to Brassens as “the good master” (le bon maître), a nickname he himself had mischievously suggested when they first met. Born in Poland and nine years younger than the singer-songwriter, she was recruited almost by chance when Peynet moved to the South of France. At the time, Brassens was living in the Le Méridien building on Rue Émile-Dubois, alongside neighbours and friends such as Jacques Brel. Sophie subsequently accompanied Brassens when he moved to Rue Santos-Dumont, quickly becoming a stable presence within an environment shaped by the constant visits of friends and figures from the artistic world. A relationship grounded in trust and mutual understanding gradually emerged between these two reserved personalities. At the heart of this domestic space, which had become a place of artistic creation, Sophie Duvernoy assumed a central role, ensuring the conditions necessary for the work of the poet from Sète. Guardian of silence, manager of household affairs, and intermediary with the outside world, she moved in close proximity to Brassens’s creative process without ever disturbing its equilibrium. Her closeness to the artist also found expression in a limited direct participation in his work. She joined the chœur des copains alongside, among others, Claudine Caillart, Fred Mella, Joël Favreau, Pierre Nicolas, and André Tavernier, contributing backing vocals to two songs: “Tempête dans un bénitier” and “Le Roi.” Following the death of her “good master,” she lived in an apartment purchased by Brassens, who had guaranteed her lifetime use of it — a testament to the singular place she occupied both in his daily life and in the immediate orbit of his artistic creation.
