Description

Autograph letter signed to his father-in-law, Doctor Jules Hébert (1851- 1912).

"21 May [1910]

Dear Dad, 

Would you be willing to help me greatly in the formation of a Pekingese clientele by giving me the following information: Wholesale price, per hundred or thousand of Quinton ampoules. Latest tips on Quitomenne therapy, adding what your own experience provides. I'm putting off preparing the serum here, although everything is ready for it, & I'm going to try for a few months to use the one that is 'watered down' in France. 
Yvonne will keep you up to date with my medical adventures, which range from the comic to the morose, from the nauseating to the quaintly delicate. I'm spending the month between now and Richard's arrival trying to get everything back on track. Dr Hazan, the Legation's doctor, is very kind to me; he has put his hospital at my disposal, and I hope he will do the same for the big Mandarin patients he treats outside, without any conviction. So good hope & not a bad start. I send my love to you, my dear Papa & Most Honoured Master, and I promise you some lively stories to come. 

All my love.

Victor"

Trained atNaval Medical School (École Principale du Service de Santé de la Marine)On 24 August 1908, Victor Segalen became a 1st class doctor. That same year, he studied Chinese at the School of Oriental Languages in Paris and at the Collège de France. After obtaining his secondment to China, he embarked from Marseille on 24 April 1909, reached Peking by train in May and in August set off on a ten-month expedition to central China in the company of Gilbert de Voisins. After a stopover in Japan, he returned to Peking and settled there in March 1910 with his wife Yvonne and son. Segalen was looking to develop a clientele, and sought the experience of his father-in-law, Jules Hébert, a renowned doctor from Brest. In 1912, the year the first edition of StelesHe will be appointed to the post of medical officer second class at the Imperial Medical College in Tianjin.

Segalen's autograph letters are rare.