FIRSTS ONLINE Winter 2020

20. [WODEHOUSE, P.G.] FONSCOLOMBE, Benoit de
A Collection of Contracts, Correspondence and
Associated Material Concerning the Post-War French
and German Publication History of the Novels of P.G.
Wodehouse : From the Archives of Wodehouse’s French
Translator and Agent, Benoit de Fonscolombe
V.p.: V.p., V.d.
A small quantity of contracts and correspondence, holograph, typed, and
duplicated. Some age-toning and historical letter-folds, but a very wellpreserved
collection.
AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL
CORRESPONDENCE FROM, TO AND ABOUT P.G.
WODEHOUSE AND HIS FRENCH LITERARY AGENT BENOIT
DE FONSCOLOMBE, CONCERNING THE FRENCH- AND
GERMAN-LANGUAGE PUBLICATION OF WODEHOUSE’S
NOVELS IN MAINLAND EUROPE AFTER THE SECOND
WORLD WAR, INCLUDING CORRESPONDENCE AND
ORIGINAL CONTRACTS WITH A WIDE RANGE OF EUROPEAN
PUBLISHERS.
Although a regular correspondent with Wodehouse immediately after
the war and through the 1950s, Benoit de Fonscolombe [1917-2012]
is rarely cited in Wodehouse biographies, and then only ever described
as Wodehouse’s French translator. He was much more than that. In the
early 1940s De Fonscolombe was contracted to translate Wodehouse’s
middle-period work for the French market, and later became
Wodehouse’s sole literary representative in France and Germany.
Contracts and correspondence present in this archive show that
Wodehouse gave de Fonscolombe complete power of attorney, allowing
him to make all print publication decisions in both countries without any
need to consult his client. In addition, De Fonscolombe’s commission
was 50% of all proceeds. It seems likely these arrangements, generously
weighted in de Fonscolombe’s favour, were agreed by Wodehouse
in the knowledge that, immediately after the war, sale of his work
in Europe might prove to be a sticky commercial proposition. The
broadcasts he made on German radio during his internment had resulted
in a severe backlash in Britain, with some politicians and newspapers
accusing him of treason, and after the war he never set foot in England
again. Rehabilitation of one’s reputation (and one’s sales) after such a
catastrophic misjudgement clearly didn’t come cheap.
De Fonscolombe’s first translation of a Wodehouse novel was Hot
Water, first published in London by Herbert Jenkins in 1932. De
Fonscolombe’s version was published in France with the title Sous
Pression by Nouvelles Editions in 1944. According to a letter dated
2 April 1942 from the German publishers Tauchnitz (present in this
collection), de Fonscolombe had written to them on 11 March that year
seeking to secure French translation rights for the book. He was referred
to Wodehouse himself who, the letter says, was then to be found at the
Hotel Adlon in Berlin, Wodehouse’s address for nearly two years after
his release from internment in 1941. The contract (present in this
collection) was signed by Wodehouse and de Fonscolombe at the Hotel
Bristol in Paris on 24 September 1942. A similar contract for translation
rights to Jeeves and Thank You, Jeeves, also present in this collection,
was drawn up by hand and signed by both parties on 20 November
1944.
Shortly after the war, de Folonscombe became not just Wodehouse’s
translator, but his sole French representative. In a letter from
Wodehouse’s UK literary agent A.P. Watt dated 31 December 1945
(present in this collection), Peter Watt acknowledges de Folonscombe’s
letter of 18 December: ‘I had already heard from Mr. Wodehouse that
you were interested in the possibility of buying the French bookrights
in all his available works...’. on 27 October 1945, Wodehouse signed a
contract signing over all rights to Hot Water to de Fonscolombe (see
Item 1(iv)), and the translation rights to a further four titles followed in
1946. In a letter of 18 July 1947 [see 3(i) below] A.P. Watt confirmed de
Fonscolombe as Wodehouse’s sole representative of his literary affairs in
France.
The archive contains:
1. Correspondence from Wodehouse to de Fonscolombe concerning
French translation rights, 1942 to 1950:
Including:
i) Typed contract, dated 24 September 1942 and signed by both parties,
transferring French translation rights for Hot Water (Sous Pression) to
de Fonscolombe;
ii) Handwritten contract (in de Fonscolombe’s hand), dated 20
November 1944 and signed by both parties, transferring French
translation rights for Thank You, Jeeves (Merci, Jeeves) to de
Fonscolombe;
iii) Handwritten receipt, in de Fonscolombe’s hand and signed by
Wodehouse, dated 27 October 1945 and referring back to monies due
as an advance against the publication of Sous Pression on 7 October
1943.
iv) TLS and signed contract from Wodehouse to de Fonscolombe, in
French, both dated 27 October 1945, signing over all rights to Hot
Water to de Fonscolombe;
v) TLS in French to de Fonscolombe, 12 March 1946, assigning to him
French translation rights to Young Men In Spats, Blandings Castle,
Ukridge Eggs, and Beans and Crumpets: (‘Il est entendu que vous êtes
seul accrédité pour juger au mieux de mes interets en cette matière...’);
vi) TLS and two copies of the signed contract, in French, to de
Fonscolombe, 25 March 1947, assigning to him all rights except cinema
rights to Thank You, Jeeves;
vii) TLS to de Fonscolombe, 6 September 1950, discussing The Small
Bachelor (...’It was done in America as a silent film, somewhere about
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