" ... c'est un grand don, à notre époque, que celui de la poésie..."

Autograph letter dated and signed by Pierre Mac Orlan (12 lines in blue ink) to his young friend the beginning poet Roger Valuet.
Fold marks inherent to being placed in an envelope.
Pierre Mac Orlan thanks his poet friend for having offered him a pipe: "J'ai bien reçu cette superbe pipe Longchamp. Votre gentille pensée me fait plaisir. Tout en écrivant, en ce moment, je la fume..." ["I received this superb Longchamp pipe. Your kind thought pleases me. While writing, at this moment, I am smoking it..."] and congratulates him on his latest work and the progress achieved : "Vous êtes en grand progrès. Plus sûr de vous et aussi plus maître de votre pensée et de vos formes d'expression..." ["You are making great progress. More sure of yourself and also more master of your thought and your forms of expression..."]
He encourages him to persevere and promises him a preface for his next work : "... c'est un grand don, à notre époque, que celui de la poésie... Vous aurez votre préface vers la fin de ce mois." ["it is a great gift, in our time, that of poetry... You will have your preface towards the end of this month."]
Originally from Arras, Roger Valuet is a popular writer who signed, under the pseudonym Roger Vilard, numerous detective and espionage novels. At the beginning of his career, he was helped by Pierre Mac Orlan who prefaced his first collection of poems.