"La délicate caisse était votre souhait d'accueil..."

Autograph letter signed by Stéphane Mallarmé addressed to Gabrielle Delzant, wife of his friend Alidor, written on both sides in black ink. Envelope included.
Alidor Delzant was a lawyer, collector and bibliophile. A friend of the Goncourts, he devoted a work to them and was Edmond's secretary and testamentary legatee.
"La délicate caisse était votre souhait d'accueil, à notre rentrée avant-hier ; et moi qui me plaignais tant à ces dames qu'elles m'eussent privé des toutes dernières feuilles mortes, voici qu'à un point de vue poétique différent, ces pruneaux les remplacèrent aussitôt..." ["The delicate box was your welcoming wish, upon our return the day before yesterday; and I who complained so much to these ladies that they had deprived me of the very last dead leaves, here from a different poetic point of view, these prunes replaced them at once..."]