MALLARMÉ, Stéphane (1842-1898)

MALLARMÉ, Stéphane (1842-1898)

Autograph name card signed  « SM » to Edmund Gosse
[Paris, new year 1898], 1 p. in-24, with autograph envelope

Charming unpublished card of the poet for the new year 1898

« Avec mon meilleur souvenir et mes vœux de janvier les plus affectueux, cher Monsieur Gosse
SM »

Mallarmé had come into contact (epistolary) with the future writer and critic Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) in August 1875. By this time he had come to London to work on his edition of Beckford’s Vathek. Edmund Gosse was then working at the British Museum and had then contacted Mallarmé (through his friends William Bonaparte-Wyse, an Irish poet who was a friend of the felibres and John Payne, an English poet), to find out what steps to take to work at the museum. From that time on, Mallarmé and Gosse remained in cordial relations as evidenced by the reciprocal sending of books, and the letters of 16 December 1892, 10 January 1893, 2 July 1893, 18 January 1894, 24 February 1894, 2 March 1894 and the present name card.