MÉRIMÉE (Prosper). Set of 3 signed autograph letters. - Lot 140

MÉRIMÉE (Prosper). Set of 3 signed autograph letters. To an Academician friend. September 3-4, 1843. Long letter on the maneuvers surrounding HIS CANDIDATURE TO THE FRENCH ACADEMY (he would be elected on March 14, 1844), and including pleasant comparisons with Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Pierre Corneille's Le Cid. - To his "dear friend". [1844]. Very funny letter criticizing VICTOR HUGO's maneuvers to get a protégé hired as librarian at the Institut. Provenance: former Émile Henriot collection. - To the director of the Moniteur universel, Paul Dalloz. Cannes, "February 27" [1868]. "I'm like the minstrels who can only play their violin, & I have my books in Paris that only I can find in my mess. Since you would like an article on M. TOURGUENEF, I hope you will have it next month [this article, "Ivan Tourguéneff", would appear on May 25, 1868], as I will be setting off as soon as I am sure I won't freeze to death in Paris... I am very happy about the good news you are giving me from STE-BEUVE."