A Dali Journal: Impressions and Private Memories of Salvador Dali--January, 1920.

A Dali Journal:
Impressions and Private Memories of Salvador Dali,

January, 1920

Over the years, I have seen this book referenced in other works, and finally it has found its way into my collection.

This book, or booklet, was privately printed by Stratford Press in a limited edition for the Reynolds Morse Foundation in 1962.  It consists of 64 numbered pages stapled to a cover of heavy card stock.  It is richly-illustrated throughout with the boyhood pen and ink drawings of a young Dali, and with a number of photos and art reproductions, all in black-and-white.

The main content of the booklet is a word-for-word translation of a 15 year old Salvador Dali's personal journal from January, 1920.  Sounds interesting, right?  Well, don't get your hopes too high.

The youthful Dali doesn't resemble the megalomaniacal and esoteric wordsmith of his later years.  Here, we find a rather pedestrian Dali whose time is spent at school, hanging with friends, flirting with girls...just an average teenage boy.  We even get a look at the sappy side of young Dali on page 31:

...after that I went to sit on one of the boulevard benches...There I saw the enamored couples...walking before my eyes, showing their happiness...up and down, up and down, whispering their rapturous feelings.  They gazed at one another and in their faces there was a smile of happiness...I thought about how happy they must be; and I smiled.

Who knew that Dali was so normal???  Clearly this is not the picture he painted of himself through his own published writings.

I was a bit disappointed, and left wondering why Morse even bothered to publish this at all.  There is little evidence of the soon-to-be brilliant logician in this prosaic diary.  There is almost no reference to Dali's art or technique, and the journal entries are largely dominated by observations of the weather, and by accounts of the political strife of the period.

Surely there must be a more insightful section of Dali's memoirs suitable for publication.  Perhaps not.  Maybe this is all that had survived up to that point in time.  Apparently, the original journal fell into Morse's hands through a scholarly French book dealer who traced its lineage to a German auction.

Perhaps Morse simply felt a duty to share such a rare historical artifact that fortuitous circumstances had placed into his care.  Coincidentally, that is the same inspiration behind my creation of this very website.

And now for the brass tacks--just how much is this booklet worth?  Unfortunately, this is an item in which its rarity causes it to be more valuable than it realistically should be worth.  To buy one today, you would likely pay about $80.

I suggest that you try to find one in the $20 range, or do what I did: find this item bundled with another book for a great combination deal.  I paid almost nothing for this booklet considering the fair price I paid for the book that it was bundled with.  Awesome score!