Autograph letter dated and signed by Henri Barbusse addressed to a female friend, 32 lines written in black ink from the steamship Vaporul Regele Caroli.
Folds inherent to mailing, letterhead paper of the Romanian maritime services and the Vaporul Regele Caroli.
While on a cruise from Constanza to Constantinople, Henri Barbusse languishes in the absence of the woman he loves: "Pendant tout le voyage, qui en est à peu près à la moitié, je n'ai cessé de penser à toi, ma belle, et je viens à toi en ce moment, à travers les distances et les préoccupations de toutes sortes, comme à ma vérité essentielle et suprême, comme partout et comme toujours." (Throughout the entire journey, which is about halfway through, I have not stopped thinking of you, my beautiful one, and I come to you at this moment, across distances and preoccupations of all kinds, as to my essential and supreme truth, as everywhere and as always.)
He lists the stages of his return journey from Constantinople through the Balkans then Europe: "Je resterai deux trois jours à Constantinople, puis quatre jours à Sofia et quatre jours à Belgrade. puis deux jours à Budapest, Vienne et Paris." (I will stay two or three days in Constantinople, then four days in Sofia and four days in Belgrade. then two days in Budapest, Vienna and Paris.) and worries about not having received news from his love: "Je n'ai pas reçu de lettre de toi par le canal que je t'avais indiqué. Adresse moi un mot pour me dire comment tu vas..." (I have not received a letter from you through the channel I had indicated to you. Send me a word to tell me how you are...)
He shows himself very satisfied with the time he spent in Romania politically speaking: "Mon séjour en Roumanie a été extrêmement rempli et a eu une très grande répercussion : campagnes de journaux, incidents à la chambre, mainfestations populaires et qq criailleries fascistes etc... je te raconterai tout cela en détail." (My stay in Romania was extremely full and had a very great impact: newspaper campaigns, incidents in the chamber, popular demonstrations and some fascist squawking etc... I will tell you all this in detail.)