"Ton papier me parvient en vacances... enfin au bord de la mer où je gratte un peu pour la gloire d'Alain Delon... son prochain film!"

Dated and signed manuscript letter of 31 lines from Alphonse Boudard to his great friend and companion of wine-filled 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 folding of the letter for mailing, a pencil inscription "Manouche" in the upper left corner of the missive.
"ami,
ton papier me parvient en vacances... enfin au bord de la mer où je gratte un peu pour la gloire d'Alain Delon... son prochain film! Ca me comble ce que tu écris. C'est juste.. ll s'agit de dire tout ce qui doit être dit... que ça plaise ou non à ceux-ci ou à ceux-là. Mon personnage d'Herlier est très près de celui d'un certain lieutenant d'Héricourt... à la Libération. Dans la Gestapo il s'appelait Loutrel... et pour les faits divers il est devenu Pierrot. le. Fou. Tout cela est historique... En tout cas merci... les autres critiques ne mettent pas l'accent où il faut. Dis à Nucera de me prévenir lorsque tu viendras... qu'on puisse au moins casser une petite croûte entre amis. A bientôt. Salut et fraternité. ABoudard. "Le Manouche" c'est de l'alimentaire. J'ai fait de mon mieux pour ne pas la trahir." ["friend, your article reaches me on vacation... well, by the seaside where I'm writing a bit for the glory of Alain Delon... his next film! What you write fills me with joy. It's right... It's about saying everything that must be said... whether it pleases this one or that one or not. My character Herlier is very close to that of a certain Lieutenant d'Héricourt... at the Liberation. In the Gestapo he was called Loutrel... and for the crime stories he became Pierrot. the. Mad. All of this is historical... In any case, thank you... the other critics don't put the emphasis where it should be. Tell Nucera to let me know when you come... so we can at least share a bite among friends. See you soon. Greetings and fraternity. ABoudard. 'Le Manouche' is commercial work. I did my best not to betray it."]
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 clearly explaining in his reviews 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 alongside le Gros Georges (Georges Brassens), le Niçois (Louis Nucéra) and René Fallet with whom he loved 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 pals.