Ivan Turgenev endorses the book by his friend Gustave Flaubert. 1874.

Ivan Turgenev (1818.1883)

Autographed letter signed to the publisher Maurice Dreyfous.

Three octavo pages. “Replied April 27th” in Dreyfous’ handwriting, at the top.

Tab mark on the fourth sheet.

Paris. Sunday, March 29 [18]74

"I'll send an article to the Russian Review – who knows!"

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, abroad

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"Sir, Here is the list of people in Germany to whom it would be good to send copies of St. Anthony – I am giving you the addresses in German:"

1) Dr. Julian Schmidt, Berlin….

2) Ludwig Pietsch, Berlin …

3) Paul Lindau, Berlin …

4) Professor Dr Friedlander, Königsberg…

5) Paul Heyse, … in Munich.

6) Dr. H. Laube … in Vienna

[Dreyfous checked all the lines confirming the probable sending of the works to the recipients listed by Turgenev.]

I will write to all of them today. I will also write to a friend in England, who will send me the addresses of four or five influential critics to whom we can send St. Anthony. I will write to them as well.

You could send a copy to America now to the following address: Mr. Boyesen, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States. Mr. Boyesen, to whom I will also write, will put an article in the Atlantic Monthly, which is the Review of the Two Worlds of America .

Here's what we can do right now; we'll see later.  I'll send an article to the Russian Review—who knows! —In any case, don't mention prohibition yet. Yours sincerely, Iv. Turgenev.

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Gustave Flaubert and Ivan Turgenev met on February 23, 1863, in Paris, at the Magny dinner, a gathering place for authors and critics. A friendship blossomed between these two giants of literature. They would correspond for seventeen years.

On March 31, 1874, Gustave Flaubert published *The Temptation of Saint Anthony* with Georges Charpentier. The first print run of two thousand copies sold out in less than three weeks. However, the reviews were overwhelmingly negative, which deeply hurt Flaubert.