Charles BAUDELAIRE and his work on Edgar Allan Poe.

Charles Baudelaire (1821.1867)

Autographed letter signed to Armand Dutacq, publisher and press owner.

One page in-8°. [Paris] – Tuesday, September 4, 1854.

Unpublished letter to the Pléiade correspondence.

"My articles have been rejected again."

Baudelaire in search of the missing stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

“Mr. Albert [Edmond Albert] can tell you about the visit to Bernard’s lady, a very comical visit. She even refuses to write to me because we break her heart and because it would bring back painful memories. – Then, I don’t know how, Mr. Borel de Hauterive is involved in all this. Would you believe that despite your order, given in my presence, one day when I was with you at the Journal, my articles have still been rejected ? I’m missing four issues: Morella Metzengerstein , The Devil in the Belfry , Dead or Alive ? – As for the dates, Mr. Albert will have to see the collection to know them. It runs from the 14th to the 30th. Yours truly, Ch. Baudelaire. ”

Baudelaire discovered Edgar Allan Poe through translations published in French newspapers. He was captivated by this unknown author from the very first reading and became enthralled by his strange work. His close friend Asselineau confirmed this: " From the first readings, he was inflamed with admiration for this unknown genius… I have seen few such complete, rapid, and absolute infatuations ." Baudelaire himself acknowledged this: " I have found an American author who has stirred in me an incredible sympathy ."

In July 1848, his first translation of a Poe story, " Magnetic Revelation ," appeared in the journal "La Liberté de penser." Although he was neither Poe's first translator nor his discoverer, Baudelaire became his official translator and contributed to his fame in France.

 "Do you know why I translated Poe so patiently? Because he was like me. The first time I opened one of his books, I saw with horror and delight not only subjects I had dreamed of but sentences I had thought of, and which he had written twenty years before."