Marquis de Sade Autographed Letter Signed 1795

  

Donatien-Alphonse-François marquis SADE (1740 - 1814), French novelist and philosopher. Handwritten letter to citizen Gaspard Gaufridy in Apt. (Paris) 9 nivôse (29 December 1795); 2 pages in-4°, address.

Miraculously spared from the guillotine after the fall of Robespierre, the Marquis de Sade, just released from prison, tries by all means to find money. He asks, with a touch of irony, his businessman to sell his castle of Mazan as soon as possible to pay off his debts: "I thank you citizen, for the attention with which you have sent me my cash through Perrin, you have not even seen it, it is from him that I learned of the fact. Thanks to your kindness towards me, I will receive the cash when the assignats will be worth more than money, which is about to happen.

I will receive my candles when the days are long enough so that we no longer need lights. My oil when there will be no more salad.

My jams when we have fruits. Truly, citizen, you are full of attention for me and I can only be touched by it. The sale of the castle of Mazan and its garden terrace is more urgent than ever, it will be sold from here, if you do not hurry to finalize this deal.

I bought and I will be crushed by interest, for lack of receiving from you the money that should clear me; I beg you on my knees to send your son to finalize this sale which becomes of such importance I repeat it to you for the last time, that if you do not do it right away I will either sell from here, or send a man expressly to the place. I beg you with the utmost urgency to send me money and my cash and assignats, I am on the verge of running out. Do you think that 80 thousand francs of my wheat, and 29 thousand francs from you have taken me very far, it's 20 louis. I will live with December and January, that's all I can do on the 1st. February and I will fail if you do not send me immediately.

So try to send a large shipment right away so that I do not have to constantly harass you like this because it is very annoying for both of us. My money - assignats in bulk - my provisions - the state of my property for 1796 - Audibert's compensations - large sum from Courtois - sale of Mazan and you will be a very kind man (.) Added in the upper margin: "Remember all that I mentioned in my last letter about the forced loan. Be very careful not to let me be taxed above 50.

I cannot be for more and especially make sure to include the compensations that I am entitled to for the ravages of La Coste. It is on this note that I made my statement here by announcing that my property being under your management, it is to you that one should address. I have forbidden Lion to do anything on this matter without consulting you. For God's sake, do everything I ask you to do at the bottom of this letter, because you will ruin me with your delays.

Having miraculously escaped the guillotine after being sentenced to death on July 26, 1794 by the public accuser Fouquier-Tinville, the Marquis de Sade tries to make a comeback after the tumults left by the Terror brought down in the fall of Robespierre. In 1795, he publishes "Aline et Valcour, ou le Roman philosophique", which goes unnoticed and, clandestinely, the sulfurous "La Philosophie dans le boudoir". In 1796 he sells the castle of La Coste, but to his misfortune he is mistakenly placed on the list of emigrants from Vaucluse, which places his assets under sequestration and deprives him of income.