FLAUBERT Gustave. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED to Ernest FEYDEAU. - Lot 101

FLAUBERT Gustave. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED to Ernest FEYDEAU. May 8 [1873]. 2 1/2 pages in-8 in ink on blue paper. Beautiful letter on The Temptation of Saint Anthony addressed to writer and friend Ernest Feydeau. One of the last letters to Feydeau, who was to die in October 1873. He thanks him for sending him the new illustrated edition of Les Quatre Saisons. ... I have received the new edition of The Four Seasons. Although I don't like the illustrations... I have read the preface, which is clear and well done. The volume is there on my table, and I'll read it again, in extenso, at the first moment of leisure I have. I can't take it anymore. I'm finally putting back together an interminable chapter VII, which didn't come easily [it's the chapter on the fabulous beasts of Temptation] and I'm also preparing the 8th. I'm bogged down with Father Larroque's anti-Catholic objections. I read Michelet's latest volume [Histoire du XIXe siècle] and various exegesis articles in the Revue germanique. Since my return I've written XV pages, which is pretty good for someone as tangled up as I am. About Feydeau's travels: ... Isn't Andalusia where you want to take your inconceivable face? The land of Pelage will welcome you. You're doing the right thing, old chap! Once you've had a taste of the trip, you'll be back - it's a disease, I warn you. Did you finally get hold of the works of Petrus Borel and the young France, you stubborn bugger. Farewell, when are you leaving? Don't worry too much... In postscript, he quotes Humboldt: "Our fame grows as our imbecility grows. That's why we shouldn't wish our fame to spread.