Paris (France)

"Mademoiselle,
La quantité de personnes qui me demandent des rendez-vous me rend très difficile de les recevoir, surtout quand je n'ai pas l'honneur de les connaître. Si cependant vous voulez m'écrire sur quel objet vous désirez me parler, je verrai si notre entrevue peut avoir quelque objet d'utilité et je serai fort empressé de vous recevoir [...]" ("The number of people who ask me for appointments makes it very difficult for me to receive them, especially when I do not have the honor of knowing them. If however you would like to write me about what matter you wish to speak to me, I will see if our interview might have some useful purpose and I will be most eager to receive you [...]")

Autograph manuscript by Juliette Drouet, entitled “General income for the year 1839” “General expenditure for the year 1839” (verso). Two pages in ink on one leaf.
Folds, blind stamp “Bath” in the upper left corner. Two small tears filled in, tiny holes barely visible.

A precious manuscript in the hand of Juliette Drouet, listing her expenses for 1839, a crucial year during which she gave up theater for good and became entirely dependent on her famous lover.
As was her custom at the end of each year, Drouet put her affairs in order, drew up columns and figures, compared her monthly income, and listed her expenses on the reverse: “food and wine,” ‘toiletries, maintenance, and perfumes,' ‘heating'... Of course, it was the ‘shared expenses of Monsieur Toto and Mme Juju, including travel' that cost her the most. From September to October, the two lovers traveled through Germany, Switzerland, and the south of France. They visited the Toulon prison, a decisive event in the genesis of Les Misérables, where Hugo noted in his notebook the first draft of the name of his future hero, “Jean Tréjean.”

After being rejected for the role of the queen in Ruy Blas the previous year, it is clear from her correspondence with Toto that Juliette still wanted to become a “great actress” and retain her independence. Hugo refused, and that year, they ended up celebrating a spiritual marriage, without a mediator or witnesses, on the night of November 17-18. Their union sealed her fate as a reclusive lover, and this account summary sums up her total dependence: apart from the meager sum she earned from “theater [...] bric-a-brac sold” (probably the sale of her costumes, since she was no longer acting), all of her income came from “money earned by my beloved.” : 7,304 francs, 3 sous, and half a liard. The calculations reveal Juliette's sad situation, ending the year with a deficit of 15 francs.
This fascinating document is a unique archive revealing the underside of this passionate relationship at the fateful moment when the prominent actress agreed to devote her life to the most famous writer of her time.

"Les rentes majorées émises ont du être payées le 10 janvier Monsieur. Etant prêt à partir la semaine prochaine, je désire savoir si je puis disposer chez vous de la petite somme résultant de deux semestres que vous avez dû recevoir pour moi."

Benjamin Constant writes this missive during a period of his life marked by amorous and financial turmoil, requesting from his banker annuities owed to him. He still divides his time between his wife, Charlotte Hardenberg, whom he secretly married in 1808, and his longtime mistress, the writer Germaine de Staël. Constant was then constantly traveling and accumulating gambling debts. In this letter, he is "prêt à partir la semaine prochaine" (ready to leave next week) to visit Madame de Staël to discuss delicate money matters at her château de Coppet in Switzerland, where all of European intelligentsia then gathered.
Precious Constantian relic from the writer in full turmoil, torn between conjugal happiness and intellectual complicity with the great Germaine de Staël.