Julien GRACQ (1910-2007). Autograph manuscript signed, November 23, 1986; 1page 11 x 15.5 cm on bristol paper (under glass). Quotation from the beginning of his novel Un Beau Ténébreux [1945]: "I evoke, in these slippery, elusive days of late autumn, with particular predilection the avenues of this little beach, in the decline of the season suddenly singularly invaded by silence.... And yet, under the sour sun of an October morning, noises are born, strangely detached from the silence as from the dream the solemn gesture of a sleeper - the white barrier of a wooden fence creaks, a doorbell echoes at length from one end of the empty street to the other. I'm dreaming. Who announces himself here with such solemnity? There's no one here. There's no one left." Sent to Mme Valérie Castanet, faithful reader, to thank her for allowing me to discover a beautiful book."