Rare ALS in French, signed “H. Beyle,” one page, 8.25 x 10.25, February 19, 1830. Handwritten letter to Madame O´Reilly, confessing to his overconsumption of opium (translated): “I am full of gratitude to you, Madam. I was given so much opium that I was devastated.” Stendhal then refers to the Lord Byron work he was reading the night before: “I didn't have any funny book. I spent the night reading this poor Byron. [Thomas] Moore has no talent in this book, he even seems a little naughty…I knew Lord Byron. What a sadness it is to be delivered after his death to a vile hypocrite like this Moore.” Before concluding, Stendhal refers to his works and announces to his correspondent, “Tomorrow I will send again one or two volumes.” The reverse of the integral page is addressed by Stendhal and bears its original red wax seal. In very good to fine condition, with multiple intersecting folds, and toning and slight chipping along the right edge.
Stendhal was ostensibly reading Moore’s Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, which was published in 1830. The first volume of which gives an account of Byron's early life, including his time as a star of the literary scene in London, and ends with his departure from the country in 1816. The Irish writer Thomas Moore (1779-1852) is best remembered either for his Irish Melodies ‘The Minstrel Boy’ or ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ or, less generously, for the role he is thought to have played in the loss of the memoirs of his friend Lord Byron, which were purportedly burned in Moore’s fireplace.
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