Georges BINET (1865-1949)

MAUPASSANT (Guy de). Autograph letter signed with his initials to Léon Fontaine. Étretat, [September 15, 1881, according to the postmark]. One p. 1/3 in-16, letterhead printed with his initials and the address of his house at La Guillette in Étretat, envelope retained. "Just one word, my dear Léon, to which I beg you to reply with a dispatch. I NEED FRERE JAN on Thursday, for a very mysterious walk. Incidentally, I'm not going all the way to Paris. I'm stopping at Maisons. IS THE BOAT STILL AT FOURNAISE? Should I write to him to have it ready for me? A very cordial handshake... " Testimony to his wild youth on the banks of the Seine: Maupassant spent most of his free time leading a carefree, light-hearted life on the banks of the Seine, surrounded by friends and women, first in Argenteuil, then in Bezons at the auberge de la mère Poulain, and in Chatou at the Fournaise inn. He owned several boats, including a skiff named Frère Jan. THIS PERIOD OF MAUPASSANT'S LIFE INSPIRED SEVERAL NEWSPAPERS: "Sur l'eau" (originally entitled "En canot"), "Une partie de campagne", "Mouche"... In the latter, in 1890, he recounted his memories as a canoeist with nostalgia: "MY GREAT, MY ONLY, MY ABSORBENT PASSION, FOR TEN YEARS, WAS THE SEINE [...]. I loved it so much, I think, because it gave me, it seems to me, the meaning of life [...]. And what a happy life I had with my classmates [...]. There was a little one, very clever, nicknamed Petit Bleu [Léon Fontaine... ]". ATTACHED: CHARPENTIER (Gustave). Autograph letter signed. S.l.n.d. - FERRY (Jules). Autograph letter signed. Paris, February 1, 1877.