Description

17 AUTOGRAPH DOCUMENTS DATED 1885 to 1896, FROM AND ABOUT MAURICE BARRÈS, CONCERNING THE REVUE INK SPOTS, a monthly literary gazette whose 4 issues, published between November 1884 and February 1885, were entirely written by the future author of the Inspired hill then aged 22.

The set consists of :

• 12 autograph letters to the publisher Léon Vanier, 11 of which signed "Maurice Barrès", "M. Barrès" or "M. B".
• 5 letters to Vanier and Barrès  : 4 about Les Taches d'Encre as well as a letter from the Contemporary review seeking Barrès's contribution

Details and transcripts:

1 undated business card (89 x 52 mm) :

Please ask Mr Vanier to give Mr Oscar Metenier a collection of Taches d'encre (issues available).
Maurice Barrès

1 business card (96 x 57 mm) undated :

thank you very much, my dear Vanier, - but please give me the last volume of Verlaine, I haven't received it. 14 rue Chaptal, always.
with kind regards
MR B.

1 undated business card (89 x 52 mm) :

Dear Mr Vanier, I am very grateful for the lovely volume you have sent me. Yes, I would be very pleased to receive "Hommes d'aujourd'hui", especially the friends whose portraits I have more or less missed. I'd like to talk to you about Hepp. Why don't you come to my place one morning when you're passing through the neighbourhood? I'd be happy to have you for lunch. I won't set a date because your time must be taken up. But write to me the day before to be sure - and as soon as possible. Until midday, almost without exception, I am 14 rue Chaptal.
to you
Maurice Barrès

1 f. (134 x 104 mm) undated :

 parCher Monsieur,
can you give me x2 collection taches d'Encre
x 2 quartier latin
and would it be indecent of me to ask you Corbière
with kind regards
Maurice Barrès
8 rue caroline

1 f. (209 x 130 mm) undated :

My dear Vanier,
could you give Mr Berthelot a bound copy of Taches d'Encre.
Best regards
Mr Barrès

1 f. (135 x 104 mm) undated :

Please ask Mr Léon Vanier to give the bearer a collection of Taches d'encre, packaged, addressed to Mr Burdeau, editor-in-chief of Le Soir, to be given to Mr Lory, 19 rue Cujas, when we have the 4.
Please accept my compliments, dear Sir
Maurice Barrès

1 postcard (140 x 89 mm) dated 5 July 1885 :

Would you please send the three copies we have of Taches d'encre to Mr F. van de Goes, Prinsengracht 292 Amsterdam - this is important to me; I am counting on you not failing to do so - please accept, with my compliments, my warmest [...] regards.
Maurice Barrès

1 advertising postcard (141 x 110 mm) dated 1887

My dear Vanier,
would you please send a collection of Taches to Monsieur Tisserand Alexandre, Château de Chamarandes by Chaumont en Rossigny.
That's important. I'm counting on you; I'll be out on the eighth of February, to be exact. to you
Mr Barrès

1 f. (268 x 209 mm) on headed paper of the Chamber of Deputies dated 1892

Paris, 19 March 1892
Dear Mr Vanier
Please be so kind as to give the bearer six of my little brochures from the "Latin Quarter".
Yours sincerely
Maurice Barrès

1 f. (262 x 209 mm) dated 1892 :

My dear Vanier,
Would you be so kind as to send me two copies of the St Lanne dictionary (the booklet containing my biography). You know what I mean: the dictionary of contemporaries that you showed me.
Please have this sent to the bearer, and receive my warmest regards.
Maurice Barrès
8 rue Caroline
13 April 92

1 f. (124 x 167 mm) on blue paper dated 1896:

dear sir and friend,
I don't [...] the Encyclopaedia Review. The simplest thing would be for you to send me a proof. You mustn't print without my having seen my text, because it has to be done quickly.
please excuse this word from a man in a hurry, sincerely yours
Mr Barrès
Thursday

1 f. (245 x 168 mm) on blue paper dated 1896:

Monsieur Barrès 8 rue Caroline [...] would be obliged to Monsieur Varnier to send me Verlaine's Sagesse as soon as possible.

 Letters to Vanier and Barrès:

Adrien Remacle (1855-1916) - founder and director of the La Revue contemporaine, letter signed "The Director" to Maurice Barres

Paris, 1885
M
As we ask you to accept this tribute to the first issue of the Revue Contemporaine, we have come to ask you whether it would not be appropriate for you to follow the Revue and co-operate in a purely literary undertaking, that of bringing together in a publication that is rigorously supervised in terms of content and form all the writers of genuine merit from the younger generations and all the survivors of previous generations.
We know from one of our senior editors how much you care about literary matters, and we hope you will take an interest in our work.
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance.
Our compliments to you, Sir
The Director

M. A Pouget and H. Vidal. - Libraires-Éditeurs - Librairie Européenne. Two letters signed Pouget and Vidal to Maurice Barrès

Paris, 21st March 1885
Mr Maurice Barrès, Director of Tâches d'Encre, 76 rue N. D. des Champs, Paris.
To settle your account definitively, Mr d'Orfer would need to know what you had to pay for No. 4 of Taches d'Encre.
At the same time, he would like to know if you would like the copies of the newsstands (1st No.) to be collected. There are 200 or 250 copies and the cost of collection would be 6 or 7 fr. gross. We will comply with your decision. Yours sincerely
M. A Pouget and H. Vidal.

Paris, 22 May 1885
Mr Maurice Barrès, Director of the Revue Les Tâches d'Encre. 76 rue N. D. des Champs.
Please send us number 4 (February 1885) (21 avenue des Gobelins)
Twenty copies on plain paper
Two copies on Hollande.
Conditions identical to the previous ones. We will cover you for copies sold before the end of the current year, by giving you your account, which is being prepared by Mr D'Orfer.
Yours sincerely
M A. Pouget and H. Vidal
N. B.: We'll need to have these copies tomorrow, Monday.

Henri Issanchou - Autograph letter signed to Léon Vanier

Paris 4 April 85
Sir,
M. Barrès asks me in his letter to let you know when you can collect the last copies of No. 1 of the Inkblots, which I shall hasten to do: they will be delivered to you from tomorrow, any day; but the sooner the better.
Yours sincerely
Issanchou, rue des écoles

René Brissy - Printer and publisher - Autograph letter signed to Maurice Barrès.

Paris, 8 August 1885
Mr Barrès
Paris
I would ask you to have the ink stains removed from No. 2 by the 15th for the agreed price of 60f, but as I cannot keep them indefinitely I will put them in the waste paper.
I have the honour of greeting you.
René Brissy