"Voilà, vieux frère, ton amitié me fait chaud au coeur."

Signed manuscript letter on Bristol card of 15 lines by Alphonse Boudard, on letterhead from his Parisian address in Nouvelle Athènes in the 9th arrondissement, 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 Jean Giono.
A date (4.2.99) written in blue ballpoint pen at the top of the envelope.
Envelope included.
"Merci, mon cher André, de ta magnifique lettre. J'ai parfois des doutes sur l'intérêt de ma production, eh bien tu me rassures. Je sais que j'ai en Belgique un lecteur attentif et qui pige mes moindres intentions, qui apprécie mes petits trucs de style. Je n'ai pas le temps de t'écrire plus longuement. J'espère te voir à Bruxelles en Avril ou Mai lorsque je ferai la promotion de Chère visiteuse le livre que je viens de finir et qui paraîtra dans deux mois. Voilà, vieux frère, ton amitié me fait chaud au coeur. ABoudard." ["Thank you, my dear André, for your magnificent letter. I sometimes have doubts about the interest of my production, well you reassure me. I know that I have in Belgium an attentive reader who understands my slightest intentions, who appreciates my little stylistic tricks. I don't have time to write to you at greater length. I hope to see you in Brussels in April or May when I promote Chère visiteuse, the book I have just finished and which will be published in two months. There you have it, old brother, your friendship warms my heart. 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 cheeky 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 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 expeditions. As death gradually took away his best friends one by one, André Tillieu would remain one of Alphonse's very last buddies.