Salomon REINACH (1858-1932) 76 L.A.S., 1911-1932 and s.d., to Marie Lee Childe, née Sartiges; approx. 150 pages in-8, mostly at his addresses or on the letterhead of the Musée de St Germain, numerous envelopes. Important correspondence to the widow (and second wife) of Edward Lee Childe (died January 29, 1911). We will give only a few brief quotations. The early part of the correspondence is devoted to the preparation of the book Quelques correspondants de Mr. et Mrs. Childe et de Edward Lee Childe (corrections, format, printing, etc.), Reinach often evoking the memory of "the incomparable woman whose eternal mourning I carry within me", as well as that of Edward. Reinach talks about his "little books" Cornélie and Eulalie, and his scientific work; thus, on vacation in Wiesbaden (August 17, 1917): "I have found a way of composing, classifying and copying [...] an index of 13,000 cards, which fills 180 pages [...] It is the index of the three volumes (two of which are ready for publication) in which I have collected Greek and Roman reliefs"... He evokes with humor his "work on breasts"... He comments on the controversy over the Glozel excavations: "The battle of Glozel goes on, and people both learned and estimable, blinded by self-love and the mad desire to be right in spite of everything, pile up bad arguments and even bad manners. [...] The public is amused, and the doctor's cap takes on the more familiar form of a dunce's cap. What distresses me in all this, as in the Great Affair of yesteryear [Dreyfus], so similar in many respects, is to see how easily one lies to avoid bowing to the evidence"... On November 21, 1912, he forwards a l.a.s. (enclosed) from Bernard Berenson, about a drawing attributed to Raphaël in the Triqueti collection, and a pencil drawing on the back of the letter. In April 1914, he moved from rue de Traktir to Boulogne. In 1924, explanations of the words comediante tragediante addressed, according to Vigny, by Pius VII to Bonaparte. In 1926-1927, he provides information on Mérimée Philosophical considerations on religion: "If religion had not rendered immense services, it would not have survived so long. If it did not contain a fund of truth, its duration could not be further explained. [...] Religion is the form, not yet scientific, of all the curiosities and impulses of human nature; in time, it becomes secularized and transformed into philosophy and exact science, just as astrology becomes astronomy and alchemy chemistry. I have written and I believe that religions will last for a very long time, because the work of science is, in short, only in its infancy; but I do not believe that religion, philosophy and science can coexist today in the same soul"... In August 1914, war broke out: "I cannot conceal from myself the enormous power of the machine set in motion to crush us, and Russia's slowness, though foreseen and inevitable, sometimes gives me the shivers. I would so much like to be able to obtain an energetic intervention from the United States; since August 1st, I have written there as much as I could, alleging the duty of sensible men to stop madmen or to frighten them out of their madness. [...] I'm still counting on a few energetic words from over there to put an end to the most appalling butchery in history"... On September 13, 1923, he wrote at length about the situation in Germany and the misery of the people: "The whole country has been drained and ruined at pleasure for the benefit of a few thousand - perhaps a few tens of thousands - of families who have already put their booty in safety, while the bourgeoisie and part of the people, who are dying of hunger, console themselves by repeating that France, the reparations question, the occupation of the Rhineland and the Ruhr, are the sole cause of their distress"... Etc. An a.s. calling card and press clippings are enclosed. Provenance: Château du Perthuis.