30/05/2014

How Do We Cope With Crime?

Published by Americana Exchange / June 2014

Some auction sales are all about money, but others try to tell a story. The one entitled Crimes & Punishments (Pierre  Bergé & Associés) sure had something to say. But it was clearly misunderstood by some, as two items were pulled from sale: a first edition of Mein Kampf by Hitler, as well as a book bound in human flesh. 

Read the Article at AMERICANA EXCHANGE / or Read it Here




The expert Benoît Forgeot
The Mighty Collection of M Zoummeroff
I don’t pass any moral judgement on these books,” confessed M Forgeot, the expert for the sale. “Some of them shock me, others disgust me or excite me. But they don’t tell the story of “bastards” only, they also denounce the atrocities committed by man.” This fascinating collection belonged to Philippe Zoummeroff, a well-known collector and the current administrator of the French National Library, who had spent more than fifteen years gathering it. “Dealing with crime and justice, I was bound to come across some evil people,” he admitted. “But I’ve never been fascinated by their misdeeds. Crime is part of who we are, and it started as soon as two men faced each other, with Abel and Cain. But this collection also underlines the role played by people who made justice a more human institution, like Cesare Beccaria; he was among the first philosophers of the 18th century to stand against the death penalty.” As a matter of fact, M Zoummeroff didn’t stick to theory, as he created a fund for the rehabilitation of prisoners and co-wrote a book entitled Prison Doesn’t Only Happen to Others (Albin Michel 2006). “I’m mainly concerned by the consequences and stakes of the incarceration of young offenders,” he said. But he had eventually been around the block—and he decided to let his collection go. According to M Forgeot, these documents were hardly associated to bibliophilism. “This sale, and most particularly the catalogue, is a way to focus on an on-going issue: how do we cope with crime?” Fearing the collection might end up in some dark room, M Zoummeroff didn’t donate it to the National Library of France. “I know it will be scattered, but only to end up with people who are truly interested in it,” he said. Ironically, the sale attracted several official institutions such as the National Library of France or the National Archives that both pre-empted several items. Other museums were also quite active, including the Musée du Barreau (Museum of the Bar). Finally freed from this devouring obsession, M Zoummeroff will now focus on his next project, a biography of Thomas Edison. Aged 85, this surprising man hasn’t lost his curiosity for the world.

Controversies
On May the 7th, the Jewish association Bureau National de Vigilance Contre l’Antisémitisme (BNVCA) published a press release on its website, asking for Pierre Bergé & Associés to withdraw from sale item 309, a copy of the first edition of Mein Kampf written by “Hitler this dictator”. The association was outraged by the fact that it was described in the catalogue as “a piece of art written by a poet or a member of the French Academy (sic—the catalogue didn’t introduce Hitler as a poet or a member of the French Academy, the BNVCA probably meant as if it had been written by a poet etc.). The book was depicted as the “devilish dejection” of a “German guilty of the death of millions of people (...) and responsible for the Shoa.” Suddenly harassed by journalists, M Forgeot was clearly irritated. “This is ridiculous. We are dealing with history, not with anti-Semitism.  On the contrary, this crucial testimony perfectly belongs with this collection.” M Zoummeroff, for his part, never wanted to pull the book from sale: “This is a stupid controversy,” he said. “They are idiots! I’ve read Mein Kampf, of course, and it taught me something: Europe shouldn’t have waited for 1938 to stop this dangerous man.” Mein Kampf is obviously a special book, and the French authorities are very concerned about its circulation. “In order to print it,” said M Forgeot, “you have to add at least ten pages of historical contextualisation and warn the readers about its implication.” But at the end of the day, it is not banned.  As far as the accusation of anti-Semitism is concerned, suffice to say that M Zoummeroff is of Jewish ascendance, and that he has lost some relatives in the Nazi’s camps during WWII. But this sale also teaches us that justice and attitudes have often evolved following a witch-hunt. “The fight of BNVCA is legitimate,” said M Forgeot, “but I think they chose the wrong target. Anyway, our decision was to step away from controversy and to avoid any incident during the sale.” Let’s underline that the sale also featured two copies of the infamous Code Noir that has regulated the slave trade for centuries—it taught slave owners how to punish a disobedient slave according to the nature of his so-called crime. Curiously, no one complained about these ones. Every community to its own fight, I guess.

Rambert's skin 
Les morts n’ont pas tous la même peau.
On October 22nd, 1930, Louis-Marius Rambert and Gustave Mailly broke in the house of M Bergeron and his octogenarian aunt in Ecully, and murdered them both with a hammer. Rambert was no newcomer to crime, as shown by his numerous tattoos. He had a striking one on his chest, representing an eagle and a dragon fighting each other. Nowadays, this tattoo graces the cover of a bookcase enclosing Rambert’s manuscript memoirs. Indeed, it was bound with the skin of the criminal—at a closer range we can even make out a few hairs! “Anytime I would look at it, it gave me the creeps!” confessed M Zoummeroff. “A binding in human flesh is necessarily disturbing, but let’s first remind that Rambert had officially bequeathed his skin to Dr Jean Lacassagne, an eminent criminologist who had followed him, and who had the bookcase bound. Furthermore, this item is quite relevant to the collection, as tattoos have always been a distinctive sign among criminals.” It was pulled from sale too, but this time it was to be blamed on the committee of experts of Drouot. “It’s forbidden by law to trade human remains, but this restriction doesn’t apply to “obvious cultural items”, recited M Fourgeot.But what is this book if not an obvious cultural item?” At the end of the day, the controversies didn’t discourage people, as our expert received “numerous offers for the two items.”

The Expert’s Choice
Messrs Fourgeot, Bodin and Quentin conscientiously built up a 344 pages long in-4° catalogue, carefully choosing the author of the preface—Claude Rouiller, former President of the Switzerland Federal Tribunal—and an epigraph: It is to give these conjectures a high price to burn a man alive because of them (Montaigne). And when asked about his favourite items, M Fourgeot first pointed out a collection of 46 sentences rendered in the 17th and 18th centuries. “These are no philosophical reflexions, but the concrete consequences of justice as applied to the man of the street. Some sentences seem justified, as in the case of one Louis-Marlin who was sent to the galleys because he had “sexually abused  (...) a young girl of seven”. But what about Pierrette Occard, a knitter by trade, sent for three years to prison for “acting as a fortune-teller”?” It’s also interesting to note that in the middle of the Siècle des Lumières, one Jacques Riguet was hung for uttering “seditious words against the King.” On another level, one Estienne Benjamin Deschauffours was simply burnt alive for sodomy. (Appraisal: 3 to 4,000 euros—sold for 4,300 euros before commission).

The ugly Landru during his trial
Landru’s desire
Henri-Désiré Landru was another dangerous man who, reads the catalogue, “abducted some 280 women in the early 20th century; 10 of them he eventually murdered.” He seduced his victims, took them to the countryside and murdered them before burning their corpses in a domestic boiler. During his sensational trial, Landru tried to exonerate himself through fiery speeches, but was beheaded (guillotiné) the following year. Item 334 is an incredible album containing dozens of black and white photographs taken during the trial—we can see Landru’s dreadful look as he talks to the Court, as well as the incriminated boiler. Several wonderful professional drawings of Landru appearing on the first pages of the album tend to confirm that these were journalistic illustrations. “I wonder...” said M Fourgeot as if speaking to himself while staring at Landru. “How did this man seduce so many women?” (Appraisal: 2 to 2,5000 euros—sold for 6,000 euros to the Archives of the French department Les Yvelines.)

Post Tenebras Lux
Broken on the wheel, burnt alive, put to the question, all these sentences are from another time. Everything didn’t happen overnight but attitudes towards criminals started to change in the 1820s. “Mainly at the instigation of the Protestants,” explained the expert, “who wanted to reform justice—though only to make it more efficient. Nonetheless, no longer were criminals treated as beasts. They were men who needed to be cured and rehabilitated.” The penal system was then questioned on a whole. Item 235, a modest leaflet of 8 pages printed in Geneva in 1826 by Jean-Jacques de Sellon, is the perfect illustration of this crucial turning point. Sellon had set up a plea contest, and the lawyer Charles Lucas made an acknowledge miscarriage of justice—the Stagecoach of Lyon case—the starting point of his plea for the abolition of the death penalty. On April 27th, 1796, the stagecoach from Lyon was attacked, its driver killed and the money it carried stolen. Because he physically resembled one of the bandits (who was wearing a wig), M Lesurques was executed; and later cleared by the real culprits! This brilliant demonstration of Charles Lucas wan the contest, therefore it was published by Sellon. This modest document was ravalé (not sold) despite a low appraisal (100-200 euros).

Unsold portrait of a legend
The Tears of Jesse James
Among the most striking items was a peculiar face book that grouped a hundred of New-Yorker criminals’ portraits in a wooden box. Names and occupations (horse thief, burglar, pickpocket, murderer...) were written on the back of these photographs that were taken around 1880, probably for the sake of a detective agency. (Appraisal: 30 to 40,000 euros—but it was also ravalé.) There was also a morbid photo album entitled Chinese Torture relating the martyr of a Chinese convict slowly cut into pieces by his executioner. Fu-Zhu-Li, as he was named, was the last victim of the famous Lingchi torture—or languishing death—, abolished in 1905. In his book Les Larmes d’Eros (1961), the French author Georges Bataille wrote about one of these pictures: “It played a key role in my life. I’ve never ceased being haunted by this representation of pain—both ecstatic and unbearable.” In fact, the victim was given a strong dose of opium before the torture started. (Appraisal: 2 to 3,000 euros—sold for 2,700 euros). There was also an outstanding portrait of Jesse James in a gorgeous golden frame; his widow allegedly sold them on the outlaw’s grave. (Appraisal: 2 to 3,000 euros—not sold).


Ups and Downs
Chinese beheading
According to M Forgeot, the sale generated 490,000 euros (before the outstanding 27,60% commission—as a sale is always more or less about money), and a third of the items weren’t sold. “This is a satisfying result,” he said, “especially if we consider the difficult topic of the collection.” This was a consequent sale (423 items), and there were good surprises, as well as bad ones. “Among the unsold items feature a series of documents about Ravaillac (the murderer of King Henry IV, who suffered an incredibly savage execution), an  edict against sodomy, or several documents linked to the trial of Damiens, the man who tried to kill Louis XV.” The first edition of L’Esprit des Loix by Montesquieu, estimated between 12 and 15,000 euros, was sold for 11,000 euros only. On the contrary, a letter written by Emile Zola to Dreyfus’ lawyer was sold for 20,000 euros. “After the idiotic controversy over Mein Kampf, I’m glad the best adjudication of the sale concerns a document linked to the Dreyfus  affair,” rejoiced M Forgeot (Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French army, was wrongfully convicted for treason, mainly because he was a Jew. Emile Zola took his side—the famous J’accuse...!—and had him acquitted after a twelve years-long battle. This affair has become a symbol of the fight against anti-Semitism in France). There was also the rather insignificant item 379, a book entitled 9m2. Published in 2006, it compiles the works of various artists who reflected over the living conditions of a human being in a tiny prison cell. “I didn’t care about the price, I just wanted it to be sold,” underlined M Forgeot who had added this book to the sale as a Trojan horse. “It was way for me to say that this collection was more than about books.” These documents indeed reflect a face of our society we tend to ignore. Crime is here, and is inevitable. It was, is and will always be. But the way we choose to cope with it tells a lot about ourselves. Tell how you deal with crime, I’ll tell you who you are.  


© Thibault Ehrengardt


All the results of the sale are HERE


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