32 - [AUTOGRAPH]. BERTON, Pierre. Important signed autograph letter concerning the fires at the Paris theaters following the Bloody Week. Enclosed: a color lithograph.

[AUTOGRAPH]. BERTON, Pierre. Important signed autograph letter concerning the fires at the Paris theaters following the Bloody Week. Enclosed: a color lithograph. 4 handwritten pages in black ink on a double-sheet in-8 (135 x 205 mm), signed and dated June 1, 1871, in Saint-Avertin, accompanied by a lithograph by Collette after Eustache Lorsay, colored at the time and captioned “Berton (Le Piano de Berthe),” bound together in an anthracite-colored folder with the handwritten title “Berton.” The folder is slightly faded at the margins and has a tear in one corner; there is minimal yellowing at the margins of the letter, crease marks, and a tiny tear at the bottom of the sheet. An important autograph letter signed by the famous French playwright and actor Pierre Berton (1842–1912), addressed to “Marie ” (Marie Caillaud or Marie de Fleury, who were very close to George Sand and Maurice Sand in Nohant, as confirmed by the greeting to Maurice, Mathilde, and the children at the end of the letter). Written on June 1, 1871—just three days after the end of the fighting in the Paris Commune—the letter offers a firsthand account of the aftermath of the “Bloody Week” of May 21–28, 1871, describing the distress of the theater world in the face of the destruction of the great Parisian theaters that had been set ablaze (notably the Porte-Saint-Martin, the Châtelet, and the Lyrique): “Four theaters burned down, my dear Marie—that is the toll of our disasters! We are actors, and without these venues built for us to bring them to life, what will become of us? The question is a serious one, if I am not mistaken... So here we are faced with this choice: either to take our talents abroad, if they’ll have us; or to starve to death amid the rubble of these monuments that were once a source of France’s glory...” The author wonders about the necessity of securing the directorship of the Théâtre de l’Odéon, one of the few theaters still standing (“Do you think I should continue my efforts—which I’ve already begun—to secure the directorship of the Odéon? Four theaters have burned down: this one is still standing..."). He also expresses his sadness at the situation (“Now, dear friend, I do not wish to make you weep over the ruins of our beautiful Paris, which you have surely already done; but let me tell you that all these horrors, all these infamies, have planted deep within my soul a seed of sadness that seems indelible to me... Alas! I see only decadence in ideas and institutions, and I see no renaissance... not even in the arts. ») Through the mention of her son, who had gone to Versailles to try to rescue a close friend who had been arrested, the postscript directly alludes to the mass arrests of Communards by the Versailles troops and the desperate rescue attempts made toward Versailles to prevent summary executions. Enclosed: a colored lithograph from the period, taken from *Théâtres de Paris* and captioned “Berton” (*Le Piano de Berthe*). In excellent condition.