Lettre autographe signée et enveloppe adressée à la comtesse Potocka : « J'ai parlé de vous hier soir avec [Paul] Bourget qui vous trouve charmante et qui m'a presque chargé de vous le dire. »

Letter autograph signed by Guy de Maupassant to Countess Potocka, 70 lines in black ink, embellished with an original drawing in ink, on a double headed sheetlet "83, rue Dulong". Envelope attached.
Published in Marlo Johnston, "Unpublished Letters of Maupassant to Countess Potocka", Literary Histories, No. 40, October-November-December 2009.
Maupassant has, for years, been one of the most assiduous sighs of Countess Potocka. He is about to go and see her at the invitation of her husband: " You know, do not you, that I'm dining at your house tomorrow, invited by your husband. Her husband, Count Potocki, lived in total liberty with the Countess, busy maintaining the famous courtesan Emilienne d'Alencon; he did not take offense at the "Maccabees" of his wife, his group of suitors.
The "Maccabees" had erected love in religion and they were penitents. Thus Maupassant writes to the countess: " There are not two penitents like you, first of all. And then I have a penitente that makes me rather the effect of a Director because I feel more willing to obey him than to advise. Further on, as he describes an evening he attended, he admits to having fallen into the fervor that the countess provokes at home: " As I had my rosary in my pocket, I began to recite it. a dozen by repeating between each "ave" - "Notre Dame de Vassivière, patron saint of Pavin Lake, pray for me. I was in a perfect state of meditation on leaving this house where I was received like the prodigal son. Maupassant had seen the Countess in Auvergne, on a journey that took him to Pavin Lake and Lake Vassiviere.
This religion was to be much more of Maupassant's taste than the small seminary of Yvetot where he was sent to study from 1863 to 1868. The love raised to the rank of religion elevates Maupassant to the dignity of saint stylite: "[...] I went back to my column to find myself at your height. "
As a result, he sketched an ink drawing where he represented himself and the countess, both haloed. The latter is on another column and holds out her hand to catch him while the column on which he stands is broken and falls.
Like Maupassant, Paul Bourget was a "Maccabee": " I spoke of you last night with Bourget who finds you charming and who has almost instructed me to tell you. I am doing this commission because I know my friend's reservations in his statements. The two men met in 1877 in the offices of the journal
The Republic of Letters and share the same fascination for the countess: " I told you about you according to my thought. And he told me that he would be afraid to know you for fear of himself and his friends. Paul Bourget is also a regular at the brilliant salons of this contemporary, he introduces it to the princess Mathilde: " This conversation took place at the Princess Mathilde that I decided to go see trained by the said Bourget. Princess Mathilde Bonaparte is none other than the cousin of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Napoleon III to whom she was long engaged before marrying a Russian count. Living in Paris, she holds one of the most popular literary salons in the capital.
After these religious and worldly considerations, Maupassant comes to literature: " Today I have read verses since the morning, for my article of the Gaul that I have not done yet. I am definitely troubled. He has published in the press a number of columns, news or poems during his career, especially between 1880 and 1889 for the magazine Le Gaulois .
It is not only the Countess who disturbs her literary activity: " I had at my house a horrible Russian writer named Boborykine, who prevented me from finding a sentence. Piotr Boborykine, naturalist author and Russian journalist, made several trips to France. Admirer of Zola, he had helped to make his work known in Russia. He was also a well-known figure in Paris. Maupassant dedicated to him The Hair (published under the pseudonym Maufrigneuse) which was published a few days after this letter, on May 13, 1884. During this visit to Maupassant, this last one wanted to demonstrate his vigor to his guest. Leon Hennique described the scene in one of his letters to Edmond de Goncourt: "Maupassant had brought back a woman, and the whole society had gone up to her house. There, in front of the Russian under observation and not believing his eyes, he had fired six shots in a row, and on that, passing into another room where was lying a friend, he had again given him pleasure three times . Unfortunately, there is no description of this episode by Boborykine.

Provenance: Jean Bonna collection.