219 - HETZEL (Pierre-Jules), 1814–1886.

HETZEL (Pierre-Jules), 1814–1886. Autograph letter signed “J. Hetzel,” undated [Brussels, 1855], 2 pp., in-8, to Jules Janin. A lovely, friendly letter from the exiled publisher to Jules Janin. Hetzel congratulates him on a “very nice letter” that Perrot asked him to forward and which, mysteriously, “cannot appear in the French edition” “[...] "With a bit of wit, you’ll understand the reason. It’s a real success here and will be everywhere it’s read; this little page is a gem, a flower."" He hopes to see Janin again soon and, above all, encourages him to promote “La Comtesse d’Egmont,” from which Janin had read him several passages during a stay in Belgium in 1855: “‘Give it to your colleagues, and let those monsters talk about it.’” Hetzel wanted to publish this historical tale at the time, particularly captivated by the psychology of its heroine. The letter can be dated to 1855, during Hetzel’s exile in Belgium, where he had been banished following the coup d’état of December 2, 1851. Janin, an early collaborator—notably on *The Public and Private Life of Animals*—had remained a loyal friend to the publisher and had intervened to secure residence permits for him in France. The “very lovely letter,” intended for publication outside France, may have been written for *L’Indépendance belge*, for which Janin became a columnist under the pseudonym Eraste.