Lettre manuscrite adressée par Alphonse Boudard à son grand ami le journaliste bruxellois, également grand ami et biographe de Georges Brassens, André Tillieu

Manuscript letter dated and signed, 42 lines from Alphonse Boudard to his great friend and companion of well-watered lunches, the Brussels journalist André Tillieu who was, like Alphonse Boudard, a great friend of Georges Brassens but also of Louis Nucéra.
A fold mark inherent to the folding of the letter for mailing, envelope included.
An inscription in red ballpoint pen in the upper right corner of the missive: mort Aline Giono, this manuscript note being repeated in the upper left corner of the envelope.
"vieux,
oui, j'ai appris l'affreuse nouvelle. Pas un mot de Zoë (qui ne me donne pas son adresse, je n'ai donc pu lui répondre) Que dire ? On arrive dans les parages dangereux après cinquante piges. Rien ne laissait présager une fin si brusque chez Aline - boisson, tabac, surmenage ? , - Rien. Elle veillait bien chez Gallimard sur l'oeuvre de son père. Qui va prendre le relais ? Je n'ose y penser. Bon. Tu as appris mon pépin de juin. Failli moi passer l'arme à gauche d'une (mot illisible) . A cause d'un médicament. A présent je pisse tout à fait normalement, mais il me reste le palpitant. Je vais être obligé de bouffer un tas de pilules jusqu'à mon dernier jour. Je suis dans ce bled normand pour un scénario sans grand intérêt, à part le fric. Si ma pièce avait pu marcher j'aurais remis ça au théâtre et sur des thèmes bien à moi. Oui, fais moi signe en septembre et tâchons de nous voir un peu avec l'ami Louis... Ca fait vraiment beaucoup de morts (j'en ai plusieurs parmi ceux que tu connais que par mes livres... Musique... le mage Vulcanos etc... ) Je suis bien triste au sujet de cette pauvre Aline. Bien ton pote ABoudard." ["old friend, yes, I learned the dreadful news. Not a word from Zoë (who doesn't give me her address, so I couldn't respond to her) What can one say? We're reaching dangerous territory after fifty years. Nothing suggested such a sudden end for Aline - drink, tobacco, overwork? - Nothing. She watched over her father's work well at Gallimard. Who will take over? I dare not think about it. Well. You learned about my mishap in June. I nearly kicked the bucket from a (illegible word). Because of a medication. Now I urinate quite normally, but my ticker remains problematic. I'll have to swallow a bunch of pills until my last day. I'm in this Norman backwater for a screenplay of little interest, apart from the money. If my play could have worked I would have gone back to theater with themes that are truly mine. Yes, give me a sign in September and let's try to see each other a bit with friend Louis... That's really a lot of deaths (I have several among those you know only through my books... Musique... the magician Vulcanos etc...) I am very sad about poor Aline. Best wishes your pal ABoudard."]
André Tillieu from Brussels, very close friend and biographer of Georges Brassens, maintained an epistolary correspondence with Alphonse Boudard for almost thirty years, from 1972 until the latter's death in 2000.
The irreverent Parisian writer quickly showed him his friendship, considering him one of the rare critics to understand him perfectly to the point of explaining clearly in his chronicles what he himself expressed only incompletely and sometimes confusedly in his books.
André Tillieu thus became part of the small circle of Alphonse Boudard's true friends on the same level as le Gros Georges (Georges Brassens), le Niçois (Louis Nucéra) and René Fallet with whom he liked to share copious well-watered meals and cycling trips. As death gradually took away his best friends, André Tillieu remained one of Alphonse's very last pals.