Marcel PROUST (1871-1922). Autograph poem signed, Prière du Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre, [1908]; 2pages in-8 (small mourning). Amusing poem-pastiche by Robert de Montesquiou. It was sent in the spring or summer of 1908 to the Marquis Philibert de Clermont-Tonnerre (1871-1940); it was revealed in 1955 by the latter's wife, née Élisabeth de Gramont, in the Bulletin de la Société des Amis de Marcel Proust. A close friend of Robert de Montesquiou, Élisabeth de Gramont had published a study on Robert de Montesquiou and Marcel Proust in 1925. This poem-pastiche, composed of three quatrains in alexandrines, is subtitled "(Imité de Robert de Montesquiou)" and signed "(Pour copie conforme Marcel Proust)". Montesquiou had published his collection Prières de tous, illustrated by Madeleine Lemaire, in 1902. Here, Proust mixes the floral themes dear to the poet of Blue Hydrangeas and the evocation of his Palais Rose with allusions to the Clermont-Tonnerre family's intimates and homes. "I graft the rosebushes that bloom on the marble, Those of Paros 'sparkling' and Carrara 'tea', And, from these rosoyants and these blond trees, I can draw unknown songs from Hardy-thee! My brush makes the rinceau of the abacus run The gold that makes Cloton walk! Trianon, Vézelay, are nothing but barracks, When the mind compares them to the Palais Lauriston! Lord, if you deign to admit me to the Halls Where the Just shall break the Essential Bread, How pure the marble of your stalls shines! De Glisolles et d'Ancy, que soit digne le Ciel!" [Lucien Hardy-Thé was a worldly composer and singer; Cloton, the nickname of Mme Gaston Legrand, née Clotilde de Fournès. The Clermont-Tonnerre family's hotel was located at 74 rue Lauriston; they also owned two châteaux: Glisolles (Eure) and Ancy-le-Franc (Yonne)]. Correspondance, t.VIII, n°111. Essais (Bibl. de la Pléiade), p.630.