Charles BAUDELAIRE and his work on Edgar Allan Poe.

Charles Baudelaire (1821.1867)

Autograph letter signed to Armand Dutacq, publisher and press boss.

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

Unpublished letter to the Pléiade correspondence.

“I have been refused my articles 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 funny 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 got involved in all of this. Would you believe that despite your order, given in front of me, one day when I was with you at the Journal, I was again refused my articles . I'm missing 4 issues, Morella Metzengerstein , The Devil in the Belfry , dead or alive ? – As for the dates, to know them, Mr. Albert must see the collection. It runs from 14th to 30th. All yours. Baudelaire. »

Baudelaire discovered Allan Edgar Poe through translations published in French newspapers. He becomes enthusiastic about this stranger from the first reading and becomes passionate about his strange work. His faithful friend Asselineau confirms this: “ From the first readings, he was inflamed with admiration for this unknown genius… I have seen few possessions so complete, so rapid, so absolute ”. Baudelaire himself admits: “ I found an American author who aroused in me an incredible sympathy .”

In July 1848, his first translation of a story by Poe, Magnetic Revelation , appeared in the magazine “La Liberté de pense”. Although he was not Poe's first translator, nor his discoverer, Baudelaire became his official translator and contributed to his glory in France.

 “Do you know why I so patiently translated Poe? Because he looked like me. The first time I opened a book by him, I saw with terror and delight, not only subjects dreamed of by me but sentences thought by me, and written by him twenty years previously. »