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Alphonse ALLAIS. L.A.S., Marseille [1895], to Jean Stevens; 2pages in-8 on the letterhead of the Grand Café de la Bourse (edge a little frayed). "I think you're exaggerating a little and that the thing doesn't involve such great airs of the bogeyman, which terrify me very little besides. [...] I told Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens [Jean's sister] how astonished and distressed I had been to learn that she was making disparaging and, in any case, perfectly useless remarks about me and my literary products. Among other things, that I was writing old stories in the Journal that Ponchon had been told more than twenty times (an assertion completely contrary to the truth). Coming from anyone else, these remarks would have left me perfectly cold. I've seen it all! And it's never stopped me from making a decent living. But coming from Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens, I have to admit that the whole thing made my heart ache a little, and I couldn't resist telling her so. Did the words overtake or betray my thoughts? I don't think so, but if they did, I'd be sorry, for Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens is one of the few people for whom I feel the whole range of the best feelings, from the most lively sympathy to the deepest esteem and above all unalterable gratitude for the great happiness I owe her"...

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Alphonse ALLAIS. L.A.S., Marseille [1895], to Jean Stevens; 2pages in-8 on the letterhead of the Grand Café de la Bourse (edge a little frayed). "I think you're exaggerating a little and that the thing doesn't involve such great airs of the bogeyman, which terrify me very little besides. [...] I told Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens [Jean's sister] how astonished and distressed I had been to learn that she was making disparaging and, in any case, perfectly useless remarks about me and my literary products. Among other things, that I was writing old stories in the Journal that Ponchon had been told more than twenty times (an assertion completely contrary to the truth). Coming from anyone else, these remarks would have left me perfectly cold. I've seen it all! And it's never stopped me from making a decent living. But coming from Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens, I have to admit that the whole thing made my heart ache a little, and I couldn't resist telling her so. Did the words overtake or betray my thoughts? I don't think so, but if they did, I'd be sorry, for Mademoiselle Catherine Stevens is one of the few people for whom I feel the whole range of the best feelings, from the most lively sympathy to the deepest esteem and above all unalterable gratitude for the great happiness I owe her"...

Estimate 120 - 150 EUR

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For sale on Friday 21 Jun : 14:00 (CEST)
paris, France
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Alphonse ALLAIS. 3 L.A.S., 1894-1895, to Catherine Stevens; 10pages in-8. Paquebot Touraine June 14, 1894 (Compagnie Générale Transatlantique letterhead and vignette). Allais sails to America. He recalls his "last good evening in Europe" in the company of his "young girl all light amber" and Catherine. "Life on board is a little mind-numbing, but devoid of anguish, which is already very nice. I have a nice little cabin all to myself. I eat like a tiger and flirt, without conviction, with ridiculous American girls who are pretty but not tender. It's silly. Fortunately, the day after tomorrow, we'll be in New York, and the next night in Montreal. But it's not as good as Winnipeg. Oh Winnipeg! I don't know what shiver of mystery tells me that Winnipeg is the end of my distresses - If it were true, though..."... - [November 1894]. He didn't go to see her: "I only went through modern Babylon. I expect to be back in Paris in about ten days. My first step will surely be for you and for all the flachatic people. I hope you're still well, and your dad too, and the big boys, and the people in Brussels too, and especially all your relatives and friends. Otherwise, things are no worse for me, except that I'm in the grip of an almost irreducible bout of laziness (I haven't touched a pen in over two months)"... - [Honfleur 1895]. His wife Marguerite concludes a letter to her mother: "As soon as this letter is finished, my young companion will make it her duty, coupled with a real pleasure, to give you news of her, apologizing, however, for having taken so long to do so. [...] It's not her fault, the poor child having had her leisure time almost completely taken up since her arrival in Honfleur. Marguerite, a very shrewd little person, has managed to make herself very popular with everyone here. My family swears by her, and I've become almost negligible. It's very sad!"... Then Marguerite Allais takes up the pen: "I'm swimming in joy and admiration, the joy of having a father, a mother and a sister - all so kind and affectionate to me, and cheerful too, because we're never bored for a minute"... She didn't like Le Havre very much: "I prefer the little quays and streets of Honfleur. There are some as pretty as jewels"... Attached is a L.A.S from Marguerite and Alphonse Allais to Pierre Stevens, February 6, 1895 (2p. in-12, envelope).