277 - VERLAINE (Paul), 1844–1896.

VERLAINE (Paul), 1844–1896. P.A.S. “Paul Verlaine,” Paris, June 21, 1892, 1 p., oblong 8vo, to his publisher Léon Vanier, with a receipt signed by Eugénie Krantz. Verlaine informs Vanier that he “authorize Mademoiselle Krantz to collect on my behalf as much as you can give me from the book *Mes Prisons*.” His mistress, Eugénie Krantz, signs the receipt—written on the same sheet—for the sum of 5 francs. Enclosed is a letter in her own hand (L.A.S.) from Eugénie Krantz, Paris, November 16, 1896, with envelope, addressed to Jules Rais (a young writer and admirer of Verlaine). A heart-wrenching letter of distress from Verlaine’s last companion, written a few months before her own death. Seriously ill and plunged into extreme poverty, Eugénie Krantz implores Jules Rais to come to her aid: “Come to my rescue—I am sick and without a single penny; I have double pneumonia […] I cannot work; I have pawned all my worldly possessions—Piette is gone, my jewelry has been sold, and part of my furniture has been sold.” Confined to bed in a room at 13 Rue Valette, she explains that a neighbor had lent her some money but that she now finds herself “without bread or heat.” Above all, she appeals to the memory of Paul Verlaine, who had died on January 8 of that year and whose last partner she had been: “Paul Verlaine had written that I would need something after he died. Whatever you do for me, Mr. Paul Verlaine will repay you.” She thus begs Rais, “in the name of your great friend Paul Verlaine,” to take pity on his “faithful companion.” This is a particularly moving account of Eugénie Krantz’s miserable fate following the poet’s death. As Verlaine’s companion during his final years and the muse for many of the poems in *Chansons pour Elle*, she had cared for the poet until his death. In the weeks that followed, she made repeated pleas for help: a letter addressed to Edmond Lepelletier on January 29, 1896, shows that she was already hospitalized and destitute; another, dated April 24, begs him not to let her starve to death. She, too, died in 1897. Includes its original certificate of export for cultural property issued by the Ministry of Culture.