BARRES MAURICE: (1862-1923)

BARRES MAURICE: (1862-1923)

‘The poet Paul Verlaine left a friend who is not very pretty or attractive,  but who finally wants to live’

 

BARRES MAURICE: (1862-1923) French novelist, journalist and politician, a close associate of Gabriele d'Annunzio. A.L.S., Maurice Barres, two pages, 8vo, Boulevard Maillot, Neuilly, n.d. (c.1896), to Juliette Bessand, on black bordered mourning stationery, in French. Barres writes a sympathetic letter seeking help for Paul Verlaine's last companion, in part, 'Le poete Paul Verlaine a laisse une amie qui n'est pas bien jolie ni attrayante mais enfin qui desire vivre. Or elle n'a aucunes ressources. Elle affirme qu'elle etait employee et excellent ouvriere a la Belle Jardiniere avant de tenir le menage de Verlaine. Il s'agirait de lui faire ouvrir de nouveau les ateliers de la Belle Jardiniere. Monsieur Bessand, au souvenir de qui je me rappelle, voudrait-il donner des ordres a cef effet, et de telle facon que Mademoiselle Krantz, si la chose est possible, soit employee?' (Translation: 'The poet Paul Verlaine left a friend who is not very pretty or attractive, but who finally wants to live. But she has no resources. She affirms that she was an employee and an excellent worker at La Belle Jardiniere before taking care of Verlaine's household. It would be a question of making him open the workshops of La Belle Jardiniere again. Mr. Bessand, to whose memory I remember, would he like to give orders to this effect, and in such a way that Miss. Krantz, if possible, be employed?'). With the original envelope hand addressed by Barres and lightly affixed to the verso. Also affixed to an inside page is the personal printed Visiting Card of Barres. A couple of very light, minor stains and age wear, otherwise VG

 

Juliette Bessand - wife of Charles Bessand, the director of La Belle Jardiniere, a large clothing store in Paris.

 

Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. Verlaine's final years saw his descent into drug addiction, alcoholism and poverty. He lived in slums and public hospitals and spent his days drinking absinthe in Paris cafes, before dying in the capital at the age of 51.

 

Eugenie Krantz (d.1897) The last mistress of Paul Verlaine who, upon the poet's death, found herself on the street and completely destitute. 'Don't let me starve. What you will do for me will give me courage to work without the need to prostitute myself' she wrote to another friend of Verlaine at this time.