Verba Volant, Scripta Manent (Epistolary Art)

Autograph letter signed by Camille Pissarro, one page on a folded bifolium. A few tears along the horizontal and vertical fold lines, not affecting the text; small paper loss to the margin of the blank leaf.
Unpublished letter from Camille Pissarro, written in an especially graceful hand, addressed to his friend the painter Maximilien Luce.

First edition, one of 1050 numbered copies on laid paper.
Publisher's binding after Paul Bonet's original design.
Handsome copy despite a slight scratch at the head of the spine.

Double autograph letter signed by Victor Segalen to Emile Mignard. Nine pages and a few lines written in black ink on two bifolia and one single leaf. Horizontal folds from mailing.
Emile Mignard (1878-1966), also a physician from Brest, was one of Segalen’s closest childhood friends, whom he met at the Jesuit college Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Brest. The writer maintained with this companion a prolific and steady correspondence in which he described with humor and intimacy his daily life across the globe. It was at Mignard’s wedding, on 15 February 1905, that Segalen first met his future wife, Yvonne Hébert.
Lengthy letter discussing the progress of...

Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Henry Fouquier, written in black ink on a bifolium. Usual folds from mailing.
This letter was transcribed in the complete correspondence of Emile Zola published by the CNRS and the Presses de l'Université de Montréal.

Handwritten letter signed by Samuel Beckett addressed to Alain Bosquet.
Some lines written in black ink on watermarked paper.
“I do not have the slightest novelty to offer you [...] I very much regret.”

Fine autograph letter signed by Colette addressed to her friend Bolette Natanson. Two pages written in ink on blue headed paper from the Marignan building, the writer's residence between 1936 and 1938. Transverse folds inherent to the folding of the letter for mailing.
Moving letter addressed by Colette to her close friend following the death of her father Alexandre Natanson: "[...] ce dimanche va être un dimanche bien pénible. Je t'écris à l'heure juste où tu conduis ton père." ["this Sunday is going to be a very painful Sunday. I am writing to you at the very moment when you are laying your father to rest."] Conscious of the suffering and...

Original drawing dated and signed by Louis Pons, to his friend art critic Georges Raillard, specialist in the works of Joan Miro and Antoni Tapies, which he dedicated to him on the invitation card for the opening of the exhibition of his works at the Château de Vascoeuil on Saturday, March 29, 2008.
 Louis Pons drew, in black ink, on the recto and verso, a curious bird: a magpie huddled in on itself and apparently convalescent surmounted by this manuscript dedication: "Paris ? ? Mars 2008, j'espère que ta santé est meilleure. Amitiés de Nelly et Louis Pons." ["Paris ? ? March 2008, I hope your health is better. Friendship from Nelly and Louis...

Autograph letter signed by Antoni Tàpies addressed to Georges Raillard, his close friend and greatest French specialist of his work. Sheet written in blue ballpoint pen on letterhead paper bearing the author's name with his Barcelona address at the bottom "C. Zaragoza, 57 - Tel. 217 33 98 - Barcelona-6". Traces of folds inherent to the letter's envelope insertion.
The Catalan artist writes to his friend about newspaper articles, including one published in the Catalan daily l'Avui: "Voici l'article que tu m'as demandé. J'ajoute un de l'AVUI où j'amplifie quelques détails. Merci encore pour ta présence à Sénanque. Nous pensons beaucoup à vous et envoyons nos...

Remarkable autograph letter signed by Antoine Blondin, addressed to Roger Nimier at his Paris office at the N.R.F., in which he recounts—perhaps not entirely sober—his misadventures in “marital” cohabitation with a seminarian named Prébende Alexis.
29 lines on a folded sheet.
Envelope included.
Published in À mes prochains: lettres, 1943-1984, ed. Alain Cresciucci, 2009, p. 110.
In a highly humorous and irreverent tone, Antoine Blondin writes to his “dear friend” a list of edifying events from his Mayenne existence, enumerated, as “I believe the time has come to enlighten you about certain things that have happened to...

Unpublished autograph letter signed and dated, written in black ink and addressed to a notary. On the verso, probably in the hand of a secretary, the inscription "Sade du 1er avril 1793"; below this inscription, a short sentence in the Marquis's hand: "so that I may write to Gaufridy to send him money".

Some transverse folds from the original folding for posting.

Lengthy letter addressed to a notary while the Marquis, freed on April 2, 1790 by the abolition of royal warrants, is at liberty and attempting to put his affairs in order. After the Revolution his sons emigrated and he did not follow them. His name nevertheless appears on the list...