Belonging to the fourth generation of a family of antique dealers weighs a lot. But he is passionate about letters, and Artur Ramon hesitated whether to dedicate himself to journalism or literature. Then they sent him to Rome one summer, “and you have to be very insensitive to be in Rome as a teenager and not fall in love with art.” So, also a gallery owner and historian, he combines profession and hobby.
He studied at the Tècnic Eulàlia, in Sarrià. Every day he saw J.V. pass by. Foix with his hat. Years later, in his early twenties, he had the opportunity to meet him and the prudence not to show him some poems he had written. Foix, charming, dedicated Cròniques de l'ultrason to him. It was with shaky handwriting. He died months later. At his funeral, Ramon promised himself that he would try to get all of his first editions; some very rare ones, like Gertrudis or Sol, i de dol, the print runs were short. At the same time, they offered him part of the library of Josep Barbey, undersecretary of economy in the Republic. He had many dedicated to it and Ramon thought a collection like that would be nice.
It started with Catalan authors. Little by little I would add first editions. De Verdaguer, by Adrià Gual, a jewel of modernism by Pin i Soler with drawings by Triadó; Oracions de Rusiñol –1897– dedicated to his doctor, and the chronicles he made from Desde El Molino with drawings by Ramon Casas, L’ auca del senyor Esteve. Artur Ramon's ex-libris – the work of Rosanna Casano – seals books by Espriu, the first editions of Carner, Viatge a Rússia, which Josep Pla dedicated to Néstor Luján. He has the Almanac dels noucentistes with paintings by Nonell and other artists. He had a hard time finding Arc-voltaic, directed by Salvat-Papasseit, with work by Miró and calligraphic poems. He was excited to discover in Floating Prison, from 1939, drawings by his grandfather, who was imprisoned on that ship. Everything in perfect condition.
“This is like memory,” says Ramon: “It adds up.” It entered the Generation of '27. First editions by Gerardo Diego, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas; Poet in New York, by Lorca, Reality and Desire, by Cernuda. A book by Valle-Inclán dedicated “to the mythical Dulcinea”. A Machado signature in New Songs; the Poetic Anthology, by Alberti dedicated to Francisco Rabal, “the actor of the Spain we want”, Rome, 1957, and a drawn fish; and notes and underlinings by Rabal. Also, books by Umbral and Gómez de la Serna, which he signed with a fuchsia “Ramón”. A first edition of Femmes, by Verlaine. The editor Jaume Vallcorba liked Jean Moréas. While with him in Paris, she found Le pelerin passioné, also with a dedication. At the top of the shelf, the volumes of La divina comèdia translated by Sagarra, with handwritten pages.
Ramon understands the book as an object, and in these almost 25 years – the same as the oldest of his three children – they have always accompanied him. He has not been tempted to sell them, "perhaps it is a bit anachronistic and fetishistic, acquiring the first work of authors that you really like." He brought them to this floor fifteen ago. Next to the window, there are two seats in which his grandfather received clients, in the old gallery. They're super comfortable, he says. He sits here and reads. The cell phone away. He sometimes he listens to music. Friend of Muñoz Molina, he knows what jazz he likes, and intuits what was playing while he was writing I will not see you die, from the cadence of the narration.
Read from the moment you wake up, anywhere, as exercise or as a drug. When you get into a topic, you need to read it all. This summer has focused on Stendhal. In the office, he shares a bookshelf with his wife, Anna. There are the classics, Don Quixote, Proust, Flaubert, and other contemporaries: Javier Marías, Chirbes, Bernhard, Houellebecq, Murakami. In Montseny, Latin American literature, Acantilado, essay and art. He says that he is very lucky to interact with people of culture and a lot of curiosity: “It is a game of mirrors that works as a refuge.”
