MATA HARI: (1876-1917)

MATA HARI: (1876-1917) Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan and spy, executed by a firing squad in France during World War I. A.L.S., Mata-Hari, two pages (written to the first and final sides of the bifolium), 8vo, Paris, n.d. (1908), to the impresario [Nicol] Gerson, on the printed stationery of the Hotel Majestic, in French. The dancer sends her correspondent some photographs and advises ´Prenez en avec vous les meilleurs, faites comme vous voulez´ (Translation: ´Take the best ones with you, do as you like´), further remarking ´J´ai trouve votre lettre qui n´est pas si aimable que vous meme, mais j´espere que tout est en ordre et que vous partez quand meme Samedi. Faites avant tout Londres parceque je vois que c´est une grande affaire´ (Translation: ´I found your letter, which is not as kind as yourself, but I hope that everything is in order and that you are still leaving on Saturday. Do London first of all because I can see that it is a big affair´). Together with a good original vintage sepia unsigned 4 x 6.5 photograph of Mata Hari, the image depicting her standing in a full-length pose wearing her costume incorporating a see-through veil and with her outstretched arms raised. Lightly mounted to a 4to page removed from an album and with a collector´s contemporary ink annotations above and below the photograph. Two small areas of loss to two corners of the photograph, otherwise G to VG, 2