205 - Charles BAUDELAIRE. Autograph letter signed “Ch. Baudelaire,” [addressed to Auguste Poulet-Malassis]. September 27, 1860. 4 pp. in-8.

Charles BAUDELAIRE. Autograph letter signed “Ch. Baudelaire,” [addressed to Auguste Poulet-Malassis]. September 27, 1860. 4 pp. in-8. A long and enlightening letter from Baudelaire to his publisher, detailing their meticulous accounts and financial dealings: [ ] Here is our account: October 5, 300 / October 15, 2,500 (I’m putting down 2,500, not knowing whether you’ve destroyed or cashed a 1,000 note of mine). You asked me for two 1,000 notes, which are here, and you have one—a 1,650 from Duranty. 1,000 / 1,000 / 1,650 / 3,650. I’m deducting 300 (on October 5), which I’ll pay out of the 500 (which I’ll collect on the 1st from *Le Constitutionnel*). And finally, I’m deducting the 1,000 that you may not have used; that leaves 661 francs, which I’ll most likely have to find for you between the 5th and the 15th from the Hostein deal. 300 (October 5) / 1,000 (old note) / 3,650 (note to be discounted) / 5,611 / 4,950 / 661. [ ] The 920 note, which I am enclosing here—unexpected for you—is intended to allow me to vacate the hotel in early October and move into the apartment where I had my furniture moved two months ago [he moves to Neuilly with Jeanne Duval, who is then hemiplegic]. The person who is there and waiting for me can no longer write checks, and the rent is in my name. So this check will be paid. [ ] We must satisfy Hostein at all costs, as he is beginning to grow impatient (here is the proof); we must satisfy him quickly. And how can I do that if a quarrel at the hotel robs me of my peace of mind, or if I have to take on 900 francs’ worth of copying work in just a few days and neglect Hostein? - At any rate, this relieves me of a major headache and will allow me to send more money your way. [ ] On Monday I’ll have to meet with Grandguillot regarding the 500 francs. The remaining 200 francs will go toward the thousand little expenses involved in setting up shop. Your preface has been rewritten and is finished. There’s no need to show it to you now. I forgot to factor in the discounts. A little postscript that I hope won’t upset you. - Don’t go choosing a young man like Duranty—who hasn’t experienced our life, let alone mine as much as yours—to confide in him about your fears regarding my future, my lack of foresight, and the disarray of my affairs. When you find a man who, free at seventeen, with an excessive taste for pleasure, still without a family, enters literary life with 30,000 francs in debt, and, after nearly twenty years, has increased them by only 10,000, and is, moreover, far from feeling dulled, then introduce him to me, and I will greet him as my equal. I know full well what you are going to say: it is friendship. - “I know, but let your friendship have no other confidant than the one to whom it is directed [Durandy]. [ ] It is out of caution that I do not put the letter in the mail. I had to date everything from Neuilly to avoid a contradiction [ ].” Baudelaire, perpetually penniless, had concocted a sort of scam with Poulet-Malassis: the latter provided the poet with favor bills, which he then discounted. But this led to bailiff’s protests and significant expenses. This system, which had been in place for years, was beginning to run out of steam: discounters were refusing to extend credit to Malassis. He would later be convicted of debt and forced into exile. Bibliography: letter published in Charles Baudelaire, *Correspondance générale*, Paris, Conard, 1948, Vol. III, No. 588.