"Si je n'ai plus de chaleur, je ne peux plus travailler... je ne puis travailler que si j'ai chaud, si nous avons chaud, mon arthrite de la hanche et moi."

Autograph letter signed by Colette addressed to her "dear sorcerer" who supplies her with raw materials during these times of shortage.
Handwritten letter on her famous blue letterhead (31 lines in black ink).
Traces of folding inherent to postal dispatch, a date has been inscribed in the upper right margin of the letter in pencil: "6/2/41."
Colette, during these times of want, lacks everything and particularly coal for heating: "I found no answer around me. My coal from last year melts like sugar. If I no longer have heat, I can no longer work, because like old Richepin, I can only work if I am warm, if we are warm, my hip arthritis and I."
To ward off the sadness and darkness of this terrible period, Colette prefers to employ humor: "... if you know where I could buy coal for my small boiler... I know this is perfectly an indecent question. But you signed: sorcerer of all kinds... The electric bulb saves my life and thoughts every day. Without it, I would be forced to sign as the refrigerated scribbler."
Instructive autograph letter by Colette illustrating the privations linked to the war and German occupation that generated the Black Market.