"... la confesion de cette jeune fille... mère est très émouvante... Je pense sincèrement que vos dons de romancier sont certains..."

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 postal delivery.
Pierre Mac Orlan congratulates him and wonders why his correspondent does not sufficiently evoke his native region in his works: "... Pourquoi ne seriez-vous pas plus pittoresquement, plus lyriquement attaché à Arras..." ["... Why would you not be more picturesquely, more lyrically attached to Arras..."]
The author of "Quai des brumes" is busy: "... je suis absorbé par une pièce filmée pour la radio...Dans un mois, j'en aurai terminé avec ce travail." ["... I am absorbed by a filmed piece for radio...In a month, I will have finished with this work."]
Native of Arras, Roger Valuet was a popular writer who signed, under the pseudonym Roger Vilard, numerous crime and espionage novels. At the beginning of his career, he was helped by Pierre Mac Orlan who wrote the preface to his first collection of poems.