The last days of Alexandre DUMAS - Lot 157

Lot 157
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2000 - 3000 EUR
The last days of Alexandre DUMAS - Lot 157
The last days of Alexandre DUMAS Alexandre DUMAS fils (1824-1895) - Novelist and playwright, author of La Dame aux camélias. A moving letter written shortly after his father's death. Autograph letter signed "A. Dumas f." (Paris) January 15, 1871, 8 pp. in-8 on black-edged mourning paper. Letter addressed to Countess PRIMOLI, who had just sent him her condolences on the death of her father and asked him to tell her about his final moments. Count Joseph PRIMOLI, who had been associated with many writers including Alexandre Dumas, had left France to settle in Rome after the fall of Napoleon III. "I am touched by this expression of sympathy. I was sure to receive it. Our two fathers loved and appreciated each other... ". He tells her that his father, who had been ill for almost a year, was aware of the gradual loss of his faculties: "I feel a whole part of my life slipping away from me; if I could grasp it again, I'd be cured...". And he saw a parallel between his father's disappearance and the misfortunes afflicting France, defeated by the Prussians: "...this great brain was invaded on all sides by this evil, like our homeland by the German. He died on December 5 at 10 a.m. .... ". The letter goes on to mention certain rumors circulating about her father's alleged conversion on his deathbed: "...my sister thought she had to write M. Veuillot a letter which he attributed to me, and which he maliciously published under my name. It spoke of the Christian death of my father... as if the world had been impatiently awaiting the conversion of this great culprit... my father did not have to convert. He never did any wrong... His charity was inexhaustible, and the proof is that he died poor, having made millions... ". At the end of the letter, he returns to the last moments of his life: "... his end was nothing but sweet. He gave the best of examples, that of work and kindness... He received the Sacraments which my sister had him administer... I insist on this point, Madame, because you are kind enough to ask me for details of this end. - A. Dumas f.". Attached, Photographic portrait of Alexandre DUMAS père, carte de visite format, ca. 1867, signed on the front "Alex. Dumas" on the front. Half-bust medallion print by Pierre PETIT, mounted on printed bristol board.
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