The original manuscript of Historias de Cronopios y de Famas, which includes 7 unpublished texts by the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, will be auctioned on October 12 with a base price of 12,000 dollars (about 11,400 euros) in the Uruguayan capital. The typewritten manuscript was found at the bottom of a drawer of uncatalogued books in a family library.
The manuscript, which has an estimated value between 15,600 and 21,000 dollars, contains 46 short stories of which 35 were published in the first edition of Historias de Cronopios y de Famas (Buenos Aires, Editorial Minotauro) in 1962 and another four that were subsequently published in different works by the Hopscotch writer.
According to Zorrilla Auctions, the auction house that will carry out the auction in conjunction with Hilario's house (Argentina), the manuscript is in very good condition and "is delivered preserved in a box made 'ad hoc' with heritage conservation materials." ”, they add. Furthermore, they highlight that this discovery is of great importance for the literary universe.
To authenticate this find, the auction houses consulted two experts on the Argentine author: Aldo Mazzucchelli, PhD in Letters from Stanford University, and the antiquarian bookseller Lucio Aquilanti, co-author of Todo Cortázar. Bio-bibliography (2014). For Aquilanti, the text is, without a doubt, an original by the author and highlights the use of the Royal typewriter, a machine frequently used by Cortazar. On the other hand, Mazzucchelli assures that “there is no solid reason to think that these pages are not authentic.”
The unpublished stories of the writer who died in 1984 due to acute lymphoid leukemia, are titled Inventory, Letter from one fame to another fame, Automatic butterflies, Travel and dreams, Tiny unicorn, Mirror rage and King of the sea.
