ALS in French, one page both sides, 8.25 x 10.75, personal La Revolution Surrealiste letterhead, July 9, 1925. Handwritten letter to the Dada writer Pierre de Massot, penned on desirable letterhead from the Surrealist publication 'La Revolution surrealiste.' In full (translated): “If your name is not among those who signed the letter to Claudel, I beg you to believe that this is not my fault, for Éluard and I made a phone call to you before sending back the galley proofs to the printer, and we asked someone to tell you that we needed to see you that very same day. Without any reply from you, we begrudgingly decided to remove your name from the list which had already been set. Because of what you have written to me, and because of my absolute confidence in you, I want to inform you, before telling anyone else, that we, at the ‘Surrealist Revolution’, have decided, in collaboration with the most active editors of ‘Philosophy’ and the new editorial board of ‘Clarté,’ to set up a kind of single French revolutionary party of intellectuals. We much earnestly ask you to join us. A first meeting has taken place yesterday evening and a quite complete agreement was reached. Among other things, it has been decided that the common action to lead (currently justified by the war in Morocco, considered from the viewpoint of its dependencies and consequences near or far, such as the manifest of patriotic intellectuals, writers society, or war veterans writers) needed, in the theoretical realm, the setting of a minimal common attack and demolition plan. In practical terms, this means immediate launch of suitable leaflets, sending open letters to people in charge, finally the creation of a periodical. We have agreed that it is necessary that each group and all the people present should adhere to this program without restriction. It should be established so as to allow each group to maintain its specific activity, and everyone should pledge not to engage in any way in activities which could compromise the unity or the range of the action which we endeavor. Please urgently write me back what you think about it. I very much thank you for having sent me your book. The periodical which we are going to publish could, I believe, publish significant fragments of it. My dear friend, please do not have any doubt about me (I am sometimes tired, you know) and have trust in my affection to you.” In fine condition.
Breton and Massot had developed an unlikely friendship, as Breton had dealt a violent blow to Massot with his walking stick during a 'Cœur a barbe' ('Bearded Heart') evening show in 1923, breaking the writer's arm. That evening is now considered as marking the rupture between the Dada and Surrealism movements. Nevertheless, two years later, Massot was one of the signatories of Breton's 'La revolution d'abord' manifesto and became close to the Surrealists. Shortly after releasing the first Surrealist Manifesto, André Breton published the inaugural issue of La Revolution surrealiste on December 1, 1924.
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