3 autograph letters signed and 1 autograph lettercard signed.
Small-8vo. Altogether 11 pp. In French.
€ 950,00
Beautiful letters by the barely seventeen-year-old Pierre to his much older half-brother and housemate in Paris, the diplomat Georges Louis (1847-1917), written from his Christmas holiday at the family home in Dizy (Marne). A particularly charming lettercard starts the correspondence: Pierre reports that there has been nothing new since breakfast as he is still on the train, but at least he can attest to a "very good trip". He apologizes to his brother for the "incoherence" of his ideas and his "scrawl", due to the movement of the train and the hustle and bustle in the car: "Everyone talks, smokes and spits. It's disgusting, it's as if we were in Germany".
The following days were marked by anxiety about the health of their father Pierre Philippe Louis, who was in pain and awaiting surgery, and altogether different social worries about a ball: "Ce bal me fait peur. Je prévois une gaffe énorme ou quelque chose d'analogue. Je voudrais joliment être souffrant ce soir" (28 Dec.). But while their father's dire condition remained more or less unchanged, the ball proved a success, Pierre proudly reporting: "The ball went very well, I had a lot of fun and didn't make any blunders. I danced all the polkas, all the quadrilles and all the lancers. I didn't stop waltzing during the whole cotillion. I was even chosen four times by young girls during the figure-dancing contests. I was the only one without a costume, but as I was by far the youngest, I don't think my pants were at all ridiculous […]" (29 Dec.).
The final night covered in the correspondence was shorter: a dinner with conversations about medicine, with Pierre and his former companions at the ball, relatives named Thérèse and Jacques, still tired from their night out. Nevertheless, the three stayed a bit longer at the "small salon", exchanging "nonsense". The following day, Jacques left early for Paris, so early that Pierre ridiculed him: "That imbecile Jacques, in front of whom you'll be reading my letter this evening, had felt the need to be awakened at half past five in order to leave before dawn, when there was nothing pressing calling him to Paris at such an early hour, and after a night at the ball". Thérèse, on the other hand, was sick with the flu, which Pierre attributes to two hours of ice skating, but they nevertheless planned to play violin duets the following day. In closing, Pierre confesses his crime of avoiding homework and vows to mend his ways: "Nothing to add, except that I'm lazy; well, tonight I'm starting my paper on Hugues de Lionne."
Slightly toned.
