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ALS in French, one page both sides, 5.25 x 8.25, October 10, 1863. Letter to the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, offering a cordial recommendation for the balloonist and photographer Nadar. In part (translated): "One of my best and my oldest friends, Mr. Felix Nadar, goes to London, in order, I believe, to tell the public the adventures he has had with his big balloon, and also, I presume, to share with the English public his beliefs about a new mechanism that must be substituted for the balloon. You know we had a little bit of readings and chances that I could have found listening in London. I beg you, please give Nadar all the advice and all the information you have given me to myself; in a word, all that you do for M. Nadar, I will put the memory in my heart. Besides, you will see it and you will know how to appreciate it yourself. Present my friendships to Legros [the painter Alphonse Legros], and do not forget to show Nadar your wonderful etchings." In a postscript, signed "C. B.," Baudelaire gives his addresses in Paris, rue d’Amsterdam and in Honfleur, rue de Neubourg. In fine condition, with a strip of old tape along the edge of the signed page. Includes the original address panel, accomplished in Baudelaire's hand, made out to "Monsieur Whistler, 7 Lindsey Row, Battersea Bridge, Chelsea, London." The address panel has been affixed to a slightly larger sheet. Accompanied by an export certificate from the French Ministry of Culture.
Baudelaire had known Whistler since the latter had first been to Paris in 1855. His etchings of the River Thames had been on view in Paris in 1862, where Baudelaire had seen them and praised them in several articles. Nadar was a French photographer, caricaturist and balloonist who had just inaugurated his massive balloon 'Le Géant' with a flight on October 4, 1863, where he flew with 30 people from the Champ-de-Mars to the city of Meaux. A fantastic association piece connecting some of the most significant artistic figures of the 19th century.
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