Paul VERLAINE - Autograph letter and original drawing by his hand.

Paul VERLAINE (1844.1896) – Jules TELLIER (1863.1889)

Autograph draft in pencil.

Four 12° pages in total. Slnd.

Verlaine. Complete Works. 1913. Volume 5, p. 444.

On a letter addressed to him by Jules Tellier, Verlaine added a small drawing, in his own hand, representing a character wearing the Napoleonic bicorne.

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“My dear friend, Absolutely impossible to come today. I have asked Vanier to send you the necessary package. I plan to see you on Thursday, wherever you are. But write to me before then if you move to Vincennes. Hello from Raymond (de la Tailhède) and to you, from the bottom of my heart, O Master! Jules Tellier. »

“ You will only be an eggplant if you have not seen Ponchon (Aubergine is a fruit from the south that the southerners also call viédaze). (…) Whatever (…) Ponchon mischievous as it should be and without the disadvantages of too much and too little, and who knows how to discern, prefer, hate well and even better love without error or prejudice or weakness or anything for inform the solid exquisiteness of his judgment. But this is even without there being absolutely any need to condemn in such a harsh way people unfortunate enough not to know it . Physically deserves to be seen with his frank and fine physiognomy, his healthy and well-carried presence and the cheerfulness of the best quality which illuminates him entirely, without reflections of good and high philosophy. »