[STEVENSON] COLETTE, Sidonie Gabrielle (1873-1954)

[STEVENSON] COLETTE, Sidonie Gabrielle (1873-1954)

Autograph letter signed « Colette Willy » to Alfred Diard
N.p.n.d. [c. 1907-1908], 1 p. in-12°, in purple ink on grey paper
Usual fold mark, very slight creases

Colette sends Treasure Island to her lover Missy

« Mon cher Diard,
Je crains que Willy ait oublié de vous demander de faire envoyer tout de suite, pour la marquise [Missy], l‘Île au Trésor, de R.L. Sevenson. Envoyez le vite, ou faites le envoyer par un Floury quelconque [allusion to the bookseller-publisher Henri Floury], après l’avoir payé, naturellement !
Mille amitiés
Colette Willy »

Colette met Mathilde de Morny, known as Missy, in 1905 at the private club Le Cercle des arts de la mode, which brought together writers, aristocrats, and journalists. The two women then began a sapphic relationship, and Colette left her marital home in November 1906 to live with her lover. She nonetheless remained very close to her husband Willy until 1907, before their separation became final in 1909 following the discovery of the sale of the rights to Claudine.
It was Marcel Schwob who had introduced the young Colette to Anglo-Saxon literature; he was also a great admirer of, and a friend to, Robert Louis Stevenson.