“Mr. President, I have the honor to address to the Committee the request for an advance of sixty francs.
It is painful for me to have to say that this is a true figure.
I don't think my situation is bad..." Handwritten, this letter written on February 23, 1852, addressed to the Society of Men of Letters (SGDL) responsible for defending writers, is signed by a certain Charles Baudelaire.
An unknown person at the time, who did not make a living from his pen and requested emergency help.
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Nearly 130 years later, on the night of June 11 to 12, 1980, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, a strange burglary took place at the Hôtel de Massa, a magnificent building in the neoclassical style of the 18th century which houses the headquarters of the SGDL.
Treasures are stolen, including 160 autograph letters signed by writers from the 18th to the 20th century including Charles Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, Charles Péguy, Colette.
An original edition of “A Season in Hell” by Arthur Rimbaud has also disappeared…
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