Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
The gout-stricken Turgenev. n.d.
Autograph letter signed ('I. Tourguéneff') to an unidentified recipient ('Cher Monsieur') [perhaps Maxime du Camp], Thiergartenstrasse 3, Baden-Baden, 'Lundi', n.d. [?19 July 1869].

In French. Two pages, 178 x 114mm, on a bifolium. Provenance: Artoria, Zurich, 27 November 2018, lot 109.

The gout-stricken Turgenev attending a concert at the Viardots' house. The recipient had called to see Turgenev, and the writer was sorry to miss him: 'I regretted it all the more as, suffering from a relapse of gout for nearly a week, I had not left my room until yesterday, when I had myself pushed in a wheelchair to Mr Viardot's house which is next to mine, to attend a musical performance there'. The letter concludes with hopes that they will meet before the recipient's departure from Baden.

Turgenev is recorded as suffering badly from gout immediately before the birthday celebration for Pauline Viardot on 18 July 1869, at which their new operetta Le Miroir is thought to have been premiered. The recipient may be the French writer and photographer Maxime du Camp (1822-1894) (according to the Artoria catalogue description).

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