Victor SEGALEN offers “Stèles” to his friend Maybon.

Victor SEGALEN (1878.1919)

Autograph letter signed to Charles Albert Maybon.

Three pages in-4° on brown paper. Beijing. June 26 [19]17.

Unpublished letter to Correspondence Segalen, published by Fayard.

“I searched in vain in my luggage here for some decent copy of one of my books that could be offered to you – and found, to my great regret, only this edition of Steles. »

Beautiful letter from Segalen, during his third Chinese stay in 1917, thanking his friend Maybon by offering him a non-commercial print of Steles .

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“Dear Mr. Maybon, I was waiting to write to you for a moment of less uncertainty. The wait continues, always “on the verge” of being resolved. Decided to break up, I don't want to give up and hope myself in a week or so, to be settled... finally. This tells you that I do not know, today, when or for how long I will stay again or spend time in Shanghai . I remember that you had no intention of leaving this summer, and thus firmly hope to see you again, before reaching the goal of Yunnan – or France . This is, moreover, the only interest that I have in this Metropolis of Godown which you alone, Mrs. Maybon and you, and the few people near whom you introduced me, – have made possible for me to live in. I remain faithfully grateful to you. I searched in vain in my luggage, here, for some decent copy of one of my books that could be offered to you, – and found to my great regret only this print of “Stèles” , on too European paper, but belonging to the first non-commercial edition. Please accept it in the absence of the one that I would have been so pleased to dedicate to you on rare paper. Please accept, please Madame Maybon, my most respectful homage and believe in my sincere sympathy. Victor Segalen . »

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Missioned to recruit workers to replace the workers fighting on the front, Segalen arrived in China in February 1917. For fifteen months, he examined, in several cities, up to two hundred workers per day, while continuing his archaeological research and work.

Charles Albert Maybon (1872.1926), professor, writer and journalist, – author of La Politique Chinoise (1908) – began his career in China in 1905, in order to introduce French culture there. He founded and directed the French school of Shanghai for nine years. Highly appreciated by Segalen, Maybon received him in Shanghai during his stay in the spring of 1917. He died of a road accident in France in 1926.