Proust's early literary magazine contributions, 1892-1893

Description

The Banquet, Paris, Librairie Rouquette then Briquet, March, May, June, July, November 1892 and February, March 1893. 7 fascicles, large octavo (28 x 18 cm), faded covers with some pale halos. Missing issue no. 2 from April 1892, documented as untraceable since Fernand Gregh's 1958 account. Founded in 1892 by PROUST and fellow Condorcet lycée students including Jacques Bizet, Fernand Gregh (editor), Robert Dreyfus, Louis de La Salle, Daniel Halévy, and Horace Finaly, who gathered at the Rouquette bookstore's mezzanine in Passage Choiseul. Named in homage to Plato, the magazine was financed by monthly ten-franc contributions from its authors, printing 400 copies for the first issue and 200 thereafter. It ceased after eight issues, likely due to financial constraints. Contributors subsequently joined the White Review (1891-1903). The Banquet published PROUST's first texts: studies, reviews, and essays in issues 1-3 and 5-7, including 'Violante or worldliness, tale' (issue 7), his first genuine short story, later incorporated into Pleasures and Days. The magazine contained early character sketches anticipating his major work.