"merci de m'envoyer des articles belges. En général je ne les reçois pas. condescendants... ils le sont tous... descendants et surtout cons ! N'importe !"

Handwritten letter dated and signed with 22 lines from Alphonse Boudard to his great friend and companion of boozy lunches, the Brussels journalist André Tillieu who was, like Alphonse Boudard, a great friend of Georges Brassens but also of Jean Giono.
A fold mark inherent to the letter being placed in an envelope.
"vieux,
merci de m'envoyer des articles belges. En général je ne les reçois pas. condescendants... ils le sont tous... descendants et surtout cons ! N'importe ! Je pars tout à l'heure pour le salon du livre de St Etienne où je verrais sans doute Louis (si sa femme continue d'aller un peu mieux). Je le saluerai de ta part bien sûr. Si tu descends à Paris, n'oublie pas de me faire un signe pour que je retienne des places au spectacle de Rosny - petit théâtre de poche - c'est vraiment un très beau travailk et ça s'intitule "Rue Alphonse Boudard" tu passeras, j'en suis sûr, un bon moment. Avec une gerbe d'amitié. ABoudard." ["old friend,
thank you for sending me Belgian articles. Generally I don't receive them. condescending... they all are... descendants and above all fools! Never mind! I'm leaving shortly for the St Etienne book fair where I'll probably see Louis (if his wife continues to get a bit better). I'll greet him on your behalf of course. If you come down to Paris, don't forget to let me know so I can reserve seats for the Rosny show - small pocket theater - it's really beautiful work and it's called 'Rue Alphonse Boudard' you'll have, I'm sure, a good time. With a bouquet of friendship. 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 Parisian wisecracking writer very quickly showed him his friendship, considering him as one of the rare critics to understand him perfectly to the point of clearly explaining 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 hearty well-watered meals and cycling trips. As death gradually took away his best friends one by one, André Tillieu remained one of Alphonse's very last buddies.