Gérard de NERVAL interned after his first attack of madness.

Gérard de NERVAL (1808.1855)

Autograph letter signed to Amédée Rome, at the Ministry of the Interior.

One page in-8°. Autograph address and postmarks.

[Paris] March 5 [1841]

“I am at rue Picpus n°6 (…) a little ill but I will go out in five to six days. »

Interned on Rue Picpus, a few days after his first major attack of hallucinations, Nerval, exalted and paranoid, seeks help from Amédée Rome.

“My dear Romme [sic], Would you be kind enough to go and deliver the enclosed letter yourself to Mr. Leclerc, secretary of the Minister of the Interior, or to give it to a boy so that it can be handed over to him. If he was not there and was not expected to come during the day, give it to Mr. Mallac and ask him to open it. I count on you ; Its very important. Goodbye see you soon. Gerard.

Write to me straight away if you delivered the letter and what you were told. I'm rue Picpus n°6 at Mad's. from St Marcel, a little ill but I will be out in five to six days. Don't say anything I write to you. See you soon. You will have received this letter around noon. Write to me what happened. This March 5 at 10 p.m.

At the beginning of 1841, wandering the streets of Paris at night accompanied by his friend the painter Paul Chenavard, Nerval suffered a first attack of madness. Irresolute, lost, he notifies his friend of his sudden desire to go to the Orient. Chenavard, not paying attention, suddenly discovers the poet “ undressing, scattering his clothes left and right. » Nerval was interned on rue de Picpus where he remained until March 16, before being interned, in Montmartre, in the clinic of Dr. Esprit Blanche, until the end of November 1841. In the letter Nerval wrote mention, he questions all the intrigues, good or bad, that he perceives around him ( Correspondance Nerval , page 1371).

Bibliography:

. Jean Richer. Nerval by the witnesses of his life. Paris, Minard. 1970. pp141-146

. Nerval. Correspondence. Page 1371

. Nerval album. Pleiade. pp 111-117

. Gérard de Nerval. Gérard Cogez. Gallimard.2010

Origin :
. Paris sale, Sotheby's, November 26, 2013, lot 40.