1881 French Woman Novelist Letter to Aunt Revealing Her Pen Name, Complaints on Literary Publicity, Octave Feuillet & Aime Giron at Le Figaro

On offer is a remarkable four-page literary letter written from the Vallée de la Vésubie on August 4, almost certainly in 1881, and signed simply “Antoinette.”

The writer can be identified with considerable confidence as the otherwise obscure woman who published under the name Renée (or René) de Vic, and whose second novel, Caritas (Un secret de famille), was issued in Paris by E. Dentu in 1881.

Writing intimately to her “very dear aunt,” Antoinette expresses disappointment that the author and journalist Aimé Giron apparently cannot review or mention Caritas. She understands the hazards awaiting inexperienced authors in the Parisian press, particularly at Le Figaro. Her frustration is tempered by the knowledge that her first novel, published in 1874, Histoire de mon élève, received unusually favourable attention:

“Cependant pour mon premier livre je n’ai pas le droit de me plaindre et je voudrais bien avoir pour le second les mêmes tartines de confiture” [“However, I have no right to complain about my first book, and I would very much like the same generous helpings of praise for the second.”]

The letter provides a rare private view of a nineteenth-century female author  attempting to navigate the networks upon which literary success depended. Antoinette laments that Caritas is appearing during the holiday season and amid political distractions, when friends and potential supporters are scattered. She can no longer depend upon the ageing Catholic journalist Louis Veuillot, while the celebrated novelist Octave Feuillet refuses on principle promote for his friends. She nevertheless hopes Giron might discreetly introduce the title into an article for Le Figaro or the illustrated review L’Art.

Perhaps the most compelling passage concerns Feuillet’s direct involvement in the novel’s development:

“Quant à Feuillet je ne puis que lui adresser le roman qu’il a eu la bonté de lire en manuscrit et que j’ai corrigé selon ses conseils” [“As for Feuillet, I can only send him the novel which he had the kindness to read in manuscript and which I corrected according to his advice.”]

This establishes an undocumented literary connection between Renée (René) de Vic and one of the most prominent French novelists and dramatists of the period.

The letter concludes with an evocative glimpse of Antoinette’s private familial circumstances. Her playful postscript, “Antoinette laquelle ne veut avoir aucune relation avec Mme de Vic” distances the private “Antoinette” from the person associated with her pen name, providing evidence that Renée de Vic was her literary persona. Her surname has not yet been established, making this manuscript an important potential starting point for further research into a nearly forgotten nineteenth-century woman writer.

For collectors and researchers, the letter brings together women’s authorship, pseudonymous publication, literary patronage, publishing history and the informal machinery of the nineteenth-century French press. The letter is primary evidence concerning the composition, revision and promotion of the 1881 novel, Caritas. Its references to Feuillet, Veuillot, Philippe Gille, Giron, Le Figaro and L’Art place this little-known novelist within a surprisingly distinguished literary network while leaving the central mystery of her civil identity unresolved. French Language.

Condition: 

The letter consists of a single folded document of black-bordered stationery, written across four pages. The paper shows light age toning, original horizontal and vertical folds, minor handling wear and occasional small surface marks consistent with age. The dark ink remains strong and readily legible throughout, with no significant tears or loss of text observed. Please review photographs carefully for exact condition as they form part of the description.

Bio Notes:

Renée de Vic (or René de Vic) was the pseudonymous author of at least two novels. Her first, Histoire de mon élève, appeared by 1874 and was singled out in the Académie française’s 1875 report as a graceful and elevated début whose delicacy revealed “the hand of a woman.” Her second known novel, Caritas (Un secret de famille), was published by E. Dentu in Paris in 1881. Bibliographic searches for the author are challenging as entries under “René de Vic,” are present, but the Académie’s feminine attribution and the evidence of this letter support “Renée” as the intended form. Her full civil identity remains unrecorded in the standard catalogues consulted.

Octave Feuillet (1821–1890) was a major French novelist and dramatist, a member of the Académie française and a favourite author at the court of Napoleon III.

Louis Veuillot (1813–1883) was an influential and controversial Catholic journalist associated with L’Univers; his health and mental faculties deteriorated following paralysis in 1879, explaining Antoinette’s description of him as being “in his second childhood.”

Philippe Gille (1831–1901) was a dramatist, librettist and prominent literary critic for Le Figaro.

Aimé Giron (1836–1907) was a French lawyer, poet, novelist and journalist who contributed to Le Figaro, Le Gaulois and other periodicals and later served for many years as editor of La France illustrée.