Verba Volant, Scripta Manent (Epistolary Art)

Autograph letter signed by Victor Hugo to his friend H. de Cambier, 20 lines written in black ink on a bifolium, autograph address on the verso of the final leaf.
Splendid and likely unpublished letter from Victor Hugo inviting his correspondent to the famed Romantic 'Cénacle' gatherings at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, a veritable literary institution in the 1830's.

"This Saturday the 6th,
I noticed the other evening, Sir, that you expressed, with some regret, not having a ball to attend on Sunday (tomorrow).
Now, I have managed to arrange my guard duty so as to be free tomorrow from nine o'clock to midnight (alas, I could not obtain...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Antonin Artaud on Le Dôme brasserie letterhead, addressed to Maurice Martin du Gard, founder and director of Nouvelles Littéraires. 29 lines in blue ink in a nervous handwriting.
Traces of folds and small marginal tears inherent to postal dispatch and handling. Minor stains at the beginning of the letter.

Antonin Artaud fought to have his article on Balthus's painting, exhibited for the first time in France, published. He fiercely defended the artist he considered his 'double', so similar were they physically and intellectually.

Autograph postcard signed by Jean Paulhan, 22 lines written in black ink addressed to Felia Leal the publisher of "Paroles transparentes", a work by Jean Paulhan decorated with 14 original lithographs by Georges Braque.
Central fold mark on the card which represents the painting by Georges Braque entitled: Cliffs and Boat.
Jean Paulhan asks for news of his correspondent: "Are you completely cured? What if it were me instead who came to your place?" and is amazed by the smallness of Parisian taxis: "These taxis for dwarf people are dreadful..."
From the narrowness of taxis, Jean Paulhan shifts to Gallimard's editorial...

Pirate edition of 1812, imprint dated 1796. It features the exact pagination of the genuine 1796 edition, as well as the 13 plates and 2 frontispieces by Monnet, Mlle Gérard and Fragonard fils engraved by Baquoy, Duplessi-Bertaux, Dupréel, Godefroy, Langlois, Lemire, Lingée, Masquelier, Patas, Pauquet, Simonet and Trière. The pirate edition is identified by the letters “R. p. D.” in the plates' lower margins, as they have been retouched by Delvaux. In addition, the fillet preceding the date on the title-page is wavy, and the title is presented in seven lines rather than eight.

Bound in full morocco, slight rubbing on the corners, all edges gilt, splendid binding signed by...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Jacques Mesrine, dated Saturday September 22, 1976, 67 lines in blue ink on one page recto verso addressed to his love of the time, Jeanne Schneider, thanks to whom the manuscript of Instinct de mort was discreetly smuggled out of prison.
Jacques Mesrine, then incarcerated at Fleury-Mérogis prison and deprived of human warmth, is enthusiastic about all the visits he receives in the visiting room, thus dispelling the myth of the antisocial bandit devoid of human feelings: "And after that they'll say I'm a savage! No, quite the contrary, and people who have had contact with me want to...

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout to his wife, Aimée Leclerc. Two and a half pages in black ink on a double sheet. Fold marks inherent to mailing.
Very likely unpublished letter ("the intimate correspondence of Marshal Davout ceases from August to November [1807]" incorrectly states the Marquise de Blocqueville in Le Maréchal Davout, prince d'Eckmühl, raconté par les siens et par lui-même) addressed to his beloved wife, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. Settled in his palace halfway between Warsaw and Łódź, Davout, now Governor General of the Duchy of Warsaw, longs for his wife and their property in...

Autograph letter signed by Marshal Davout, then Governor General of Poland, addressed to his wife Aimée Leclerc, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte. Three pages in black ink on a double sheet, with his autograph address on the verso, as well as the stamp of the Grande Armée, and a broken wax seal, armorial with the cipher "LD" on grand mantle and Marshal's batons under crown. 
Tears from opening affecting two words on the third page.
After Davout's brilliant personal victory at Auerstedt, the battles of Jena, Eylau and Friedland which ended the war against the fourth coalition, Davout reaps the fruits of his success. Covered...

Autograph letter signed by Remy de Gourmont addressed to a writer with whom he collaborates, 1 page on a double sheet, 14 lines in black ink, regarding a sum owed to a publisher: "On lui doit 3 fr, versables quand Ducoté aura donné les fonds du mois de juillet." ["We owe him 3 francs, payable when Ducoté has provided the funds for the month of July."]
Two small stains on the verso of the autograph letter.

Autograph letter dated and signed by Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and father of the Grand Condé, 2 pages on one sheet, 27 lines in black ink.
Minor restorations and dampstain to left margin of the sheet. Discreet annotation by a former owner at head of verso of the letter.
Although he acknowledges the full atrocity of the crime perpetrated by sieur Cardinet against the person of the son of one of the most important magistrates of the city of Bourges, Henri II undertakes to intervene in favor of the assassin: "... l'action qui sest passee a Bourges est très méchante estant un assassinat très inhumain fait en plein jour contre le fils dun des...

"Ce soir je suis très mal foutu... il est 19 heures et je me couche juste après la fin de ta lettre... de rien de grave... juste une grande fatigue (à rien faire)" ["Tonight I feel really awful... it's 7 PM and I'm going to bed...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Emile Zola, 23 lines in black ink on a page and a half, addressed to press baron Arthur Meyer
Folds inherent to postal delivery.
Emile Zola intervenes with Arthur Meyer, proprietor of the high-circulation newspaper "Le Gaulois", on behalf of his friend Louis de Robert: "Vous sentirez comme moi que c'est un garçon d'avenir, et je suis convaincu que vous l'utiliserez... Je le connais et je désire qu'il travaille." ["You will feel as I do that he is a young man with a future, and I am convinced that you will make use of him... I know him and I want him to work."] in whom he recognizes a talented writer: "Me...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Charles Vildrac to Henri Barbusse; one page with his monogram blind-stamped in the upper left corner and written in black ink on one leaf, 18 lines.
Postal folds, a small tear at the foot of the letter without any damage to the text.
Charles Vildrac congratulates Henri Barbusse for his militant devotion and dynamism: "J'ai pris connaissance du Manifeste appel pour une ligue internationale des écrivains et j'y adhère sans réserves en applaudissant à votre généreuse initiative." ["I have read the Manifesto calling for an international league of writers and I join it without reservation, applauding your generous...

“Yes I have sarcasm in my words, yes I do not know how to flatter and bend my back, how to beg in official salons […] I am nothing but a braying schemer, but if I had submitted - yes I would be comfortable."

Long autograph letter dated August 1896 and signed by Paul Gauguin to painter Daniel de Monfreid. Four pages in black ink on two lined sheets.
Small tears to margins not affecting the text, traces of folds inherent to sending.
In the midst of his descent into hell, abandoned in his Tahitian artificial paradise, Gauguin feels cursed : “Definitely, I was born under a bad...

Autograph letter dated and signed by Edgar Degas, addressed to the dealer Charles Deschamps, director of Durand-Ruel’s London branch. Three pages in ink on a bifolium.
Minor marginal tears not affecting the text, folds from mailing.
Recently returned from New Orleans, Degas writes to his London dealer to announce the imminent arrival of a delicate composition of dancers, Le Foyer de la danse à l’Opéra de la rue Le Peletier, now held at the Musée d’Orsay: "In the meantime you will receive the little picture you saw in progress and which you had the idea of selling to Mr. Huth - May you succeed! [...] As for the price, it seems to me that...