Lettre autographe signée adressée à Paul Dalloz

Autograph letter signed by Gustave Doré addressed to Paul Dalloz. Four pages written in black ink on a double sheet of white paper, with envelope.
Fine letter full of torment, in which Gustave Doré dreads being supported again for the rank of officer in the Legion of Honor, he who was made chevalier in 1861 after the publication of Dante's Inferno and thanks to Paul Dalloz's intervention. Doré thanks him moreover for this past influence: "Je viens te remercier encore et du plus profond de mon cœur de l'amitié toute dévouée que vous m'avez témoignée dans ces dernières circonstances ; et je t'assure que je te conserve pour ce fait des sentiments aussi reconnaissants que pour le service que tu m'as si spontanément et cordialement rendu il y douze ans." ["I come to thank you again and from the depths of my heart for the devoted friendship you have shown me in these recent circumstances; and I assure you that I preserve for this fact feelings as grateful as for the service you rendered me so spontaneously and cordially twelve years ago."] He nevertheless asks him not to propose him for the rank of officer: "Mais je viens réclamer de toi les mêmes amitiés te priant, te suppliant même de t'arrêter complétement et absolument ce qui je n'en doute pas te coûtera plus encore qu'autre chose. J'ai beaucoup pensé à tout ce que tu m'as dit hier et je trouve que je me suis trompé tout à fait en te laissant t'engager si obligeamment dans ces démarches." ["But I come to claim from you the same friendships, asking you, even begging you to stop completely and absolutely, which I do not doubt will cost you more than anything else. I have thought much about everything you told me yesterday and I find that I was quite wrong to let you engage so obligingly in these steps."] Gustave Doré was nevertheless appointed officer of the Legion of Honor on January 15, 1879...through Paul Dalloz's intervention.