"What is lost is lost": Juliette Drouot mourning lost passion and fulfillment in her relationship with Victor Hugo
Autograph letter signed ("Juliette").
8vo. 4 pp. on bifolium.
$10,607.00
Touching letter of a neglected and tormented lover. Unable to be mad at her beloved Victor Hugo ("Toto"), Drouet directs her anger and frustration against herself, while hoping that the expression of her desperation will oblige him. The translated letter in full: "Hello, my beloved Toto, hello my beloved little man hello, hello. I am confused, I am sad, I am offended, I am enraged. I don't want to see myself anymore and I punch myself in the face. I am furious with myself and I am sad in my heart. I don't see you anymore, my Toto, I don't preoccupy you but I don't see you anymore. It is clear, however, that it cannot always be your work that keeps you with such regularity, but rather the visits you make and receive. In the past you gave less time to worldly duties and more to love. You worked as much, if not more, and I was happier. In winter I can stay up entire nights, in summer I cannot; as soon as one o'clock in the morning arrives my eyes close in spite of me. How can I see you then since you come, if at all, at this hour? I won't go to bed, I'll keep my windows open and I'll have coffee to keep me awake. That way I can at least enjoy the few minutes you can give me. I'll start this diet tonight, waiting. What is lost is lost, especially for me because you are not a man to give me back the lost opportunity. I am sad my dear love, really sad. I love you too much." - The letter can be dated with some certainty based on the content of other letters by Drouet from early May 1844. Particularly a letter from the evening of Thursday, 23 May 1844 that can be interpreted as an overture to the outburst of sadness that is the letter at hand.
With a minor tear to the lower right margin of the first leaf and an old reinforcement of the fold.
