"... il m'est impossible de lire de penser à quoi que ce soit sauf aux méfaits du temps..."

Autograph letter signed by Pierre-André Benoit (22 lines in blue ink and written from his château at Rivières-de-Theyrargues in the Gard which he has occupied since 1970) addressed to bookseller Pierre Clerc to whom he presents his wishes for 1985 and in which he narrates the damage related to the frost that is ravaging the Gard and damaging his home.
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PAB suffers from the harsh winter that has fallen upon the Gard: "... si je vous écris avec un soleil radieux qui réjouit les yeux il est sans effet et les -15e devant ma porte le 0 à l'intérieur de la maison cela n'a rien de confortable..." ["... if I write to you with radiant sunshine that delights the eyes it has no effect and the -15° in front of my door, 0° inside the house, that is not at all comfortable..."] but remains in good health even if his mind is paralyzed by the damage that promises to be significant: "...je suis effrayé à la pensée du dégel... il m'est impossible de lire de penser à quoi que ce soit sauf aux méfaits du temps. Vivement les beaux jours..." ["...I am frightened at the thought of the thaw... it is impossible for me to read or think of anything except the misdeeds of the weather. Looking forward to fine weather..."]
Poet, painter, engraver, Pierre-André Benoit or P.A.B. was above all a typographer and printer having produced more than 400 illustrated works bringing together the greatest postwar poets with the most talented painters of the second half of the 20th century.
P.A.B.'s productions were first created on a small press installed in his apartment in Alès. They brought together his friends the poets René Char, André Breton, Paul Eluard, Paul Claudel, Erik Satie, Tristan Tzara and his painter friends Joan Miro, Georges Braque, Jean Dubuffet, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso. In 1949, he began to use celluloid engraving which allowed him to make the prints himself and to produce the books entirely. From his modern château at Rivières-de-Theyrargues, in the Gard, he ended up illustrating his own works while continuing to work with his faithful friends Camille Bryen and Pierre Alechinsky.