BLANCHE Émile (Paris 1820-1893) médecin alién... Lot n° 72

He looked after Maupassant. L.A.S. "E. Blanche", Passy September 24, 1871, [to the Countess of CASTIGLIONE]; 8 pages in-8 (one corner a little gnawed). Interesting letter after the war and the Commune. He is not consoled by the death of Joseph, the Countess's child: "he had all the qualities of heart that I love, good, devoted, charitable, courageous... At least, he did not experience all the tortures of the siege of Paris and then the horrors of the Commune, the bombing, the shootings, the fire... "Bombarded by the Prussians, deprived of fire, bread and meat, bombarded again under the Commune, obliged to abandon the house and take my patients to Paris, finding myself in Paris in the midst of the battle and the fires, at the Red Cross, I did not have to deplore the slightest scratch for any of my patients and servants, and on May 31 we were all reinstalled in Passy [....] We immediately repaired the damage caused by the shells and by the federates who occupied the park for eight days - 2 shells in the castle"... He gives news of his family and his son Jacques, and of their acquaintances, speaks of an Italian decoration that she could obtain for him, and he reassures her: everything will remain calm in Paris "unless there are attempts at Bonapartist or Monarchical restoration; [...] it is absolutely necessary that sensible people take their side and accept the Republic; outside of that, we will go from one Revolution to another"... Another L.A.S. to the same, Passy February 22, 1865; plus a L.A.S. of recommendation to Regnauld, prefect of the Eure, December 19, 1878.