Moving letter from Guillaume APOLLINAIRE at death's door.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880.1918)

Autograph letter signed to Lucien Wahl, to the newspaper L'Information.

Two pages ½ in-8° on letterhead of the Val-de-Grâce military hospital.

Margin defects and restorations to the folds.

Autograph address and postmarks.

[Paris. January 23, 1918, according to postmark].

“I was on the verge of death. »

Moving letter from Apollinaire on the road to death but still absorbed by his artistic work.

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My dear friend, I am better but am still in bed. I hope to get up soon. The day I had to go to the hospital because the soldiers couldn't treat me at home, I went to the Inform. [l'Information, newspaper where Wahl collaborated] but did not have the strength to go up, that's why I scribbled on a piece of paper the address of the hospital where I was going and I given to a cyclist asking her to give it to Christian but she gave it to Mr. [?] who wrote to me at the same time as you. But I don't want to tire this good man, nor you, dear friend. Remember that I am at the bottom of Auteuil. However, I thought that Christian, a conveyor and leggy, would come to see me. Hello to everyone, to Mora, to my co-translators, to Mr. Mazeran, to the young girls etc. And tell Christian to come see me. You, don't forget the papers that the great Review is waiting for and send me a note. I was on the verge of death. My friendly hand. Guillaume Apollinaire.

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On January 3, 1918, three days after finishing printing Mamelles de Tirésias,  Apollinaire was struck down by pulmonary congestion. Hospitalized again, he will not be able to get up until the beginning of February and will remain in treatment until May 13. After the trepanation of 1917, death lurked around the poet.

He was killed by the Spanish flu a few months later, on November 9, 1918.