BAUDELAIRE Charles - Lot 25

BAUDELAIRE Charles AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED to [Bernard NEYT), [1864-1865]. 1 page in-8 in ink (slight foxing, trace of fold). Autograph letter signed by Charles Baudelaire to Bernard Neyt, with whom Baudelaire worked as a copyist and with whom he maintained friendly, even drunken, relations. Charles Neyt, a photographer and Bernard's son, produced two portraits of Baudelaire in 1864 and 1866, including the one with the cigar. He suggested to Baudelaire that he send his father rantings that might shock him. In this letter, Baudelaire mischievously blames Charles Neyt for the whole affair: I hardly dare explain to you the kind of service I'm asking of you. It is your son M. Charles Ney's fault if I had hoped that you would agree to be bored copying all these elucubrations, some of which, moreover, might shock your opinions or your modesty.