778 - ROPS, Félicien: A letter addressed to a “Dear Sir,” illustrated with a caricature, announcing his trip to America. Paris, Monday [September 19, 1887], 1 p. and 13 ll., 26.5 x 18.5 cm, brown ink on gold-tinted vellum paper decorated with an etching (fold marks, traces of mounting on the reverse without affecting the text). A delightful letter adorned with an amusing caricature, in which he announces, with his characteristic humor, his imminent departure for the United States. The drawing depicts him immersed in an “Edison” trunk, with several pistols and a huge bullet behind him, in front of a portrait—depicting the lawyer Adolphe Englebienne as a donkey—whom he had sought to challenge to a duel in 1886. “Just as you see me, I’m packing a hefty trunk. An American publisher of extraordinary taste is taking me away from old Europe to go over there and illustrate *Strange America*—a substantial book as well, which will be published in 1889—if the devil grants me life. The publisher arrived at my home yesterday; it was all decided today, and the day after tomorrow the transatlantic liner La Bretagne will carry me to New-Yorck [sic]; from New-Yorck we’ll head to Chicago, and from Chicago to Lake Huron. From Lake Huron???? That’s it. I hope to return with a tattoo. I’ll have the Cross of the Order of Leopold tattooed on my greater trochanter [sic]—for the ladies [...]”. He adds “more seriously” that this is in fact an “exploratory trip” as a prelude to the “real big journey.” Finally, he reassures his unidentified correspondent by telling him that he will “most likely be able to contribute to [his] Almanac, at least with a sketch.” The extensive correspondence regarding this trip, part of which is preserved at the Félicien Rops Museum in Namur, shows that he set sail on Saturday, September 24, 1887, from the port of Le Havre, with his partner Léontine Duluc. Upon his return in February 1888, he considered another trip across the Atlantic in 1889, but the American publishing project never came to fruition. Ref. Di Stazio, Giuseppe – “Strange America, Chronicle of a Trip to the United States,” in Chroniques ropsiennes. Namur, Félicien Rops Museum, January 14, 2026 (available online at www.ropslettres.be).