780 - ROPS, Félicien: An illustrated, autographed letter addressed to "My dear Gaston [Bérardi]". "Avenue Louise 262" [Brussels] [c. 1872–1874] 1 p. in-12, sepia ink on tinted laid paper, signed "Félÿ Rops" (mounted on cardstock bearing, on the reverse, old newspaper clippings or proofs that have been partially scraped off). An amusing letter adorned at the top with a large pen-and-ink drawing depicting a man in a burnou warming himself by a fire. "The Aïssaouas missed their deadline by a day; I couldn’t attend to it yesterday—500 packages to transport from Rue de la Loi to the avenue!—But Tuesday morning without fail! (sic!) They’ll be at the offices of *L’Indépendance*—and I hope you’ll always be willing to consider me your debtor. That horror doesn’t count!—In the end, like Baudelaire’s *Lesbos*, I find my forgiveness in the excess of my faults!” This letter, previously known only from a typewritten transcription, is included in the online edition of Rops’s correspondence published under the auspices of the Félicien Rops Museum. The drawing is described there as “Arab Warming Himself.” The allusion to Baudelaire is all the more delightful coming from Rops, who specifically illustrated *Les épaves* (1866), which included “Lesbos.” Ref. Correspondence of Félicien Rops (ropslettres.be), letter 2981.