3 months before his death

Autographed letter signed "P Verlaine" to Adrien Remacle Paris, 22 September 1895, 1 page. In-8° on a bifolium of vergé paper uniformly browned, with some stains and small foxing. In a feverish handwriting, Verlaine indicates his last address at 39 rue Descartes, three and a half months before his death.

I received last night, 80 francs from Mr. Colin, for my verses for which I thank you and for having placed them so well.

I sincerely wish for your quick recovery. I would have come to see you, but we are in the middle of moving, and proof of this is that as soon as this is received, know that I reside at 39 rue Descartes. A thousand cordialities, P Verlaine." Lodged with his mistress Eugénie Krantz in an attic on rue Saint-Victor since the beginning of 1895, the couple moved in September to the first floor of 39 rue Descartes, behind the Panthéon. Already suffering from diabetes, ulcers, and syphilis, the poet's last months turned into a torment. Verlaine barely went out and corresponded with his last loyal friends, he whose irreparable decline, which began a few years earlier, led to countless stays in hospitals.

An emblematic figure of the cursed poet, the Poor Lélian ultimately died on January 8, 1896, from acute pneumonia. Each of these poems was republished in the posthumous works of Verlaine edited by Messein in 1911.

In return, Remacle was the dedicatee of a poem in the collection Dédicace, which was published in 1890. Remacle adapted the Fêtes galantes into a drama-ballet in two acts, created in Paris on February 9, 1914, on the stage of the Théâtre idéaliste. Morssen, Paris, autumn 1968 Collection H.