(WRITERS.) Two Autograph Letters Signed: Emile Zola * Thornton Wilder. Zola. ALS, to "Dear Sir," in French, offering to introduce him to Marcellin Desboutin so that the recipient could obtain a photograph or make a sketch of Desboutin's painting. Wilder. ALS, to Knickerbocker News editor Duane La Fleche, expressing pleasure that he found some of his text useful, and praising some girls and their teachers. Each 1 page, 8vo; remnants of hinging at upper edges verso, Zola letter with faint marginal discoloration from prior matting, folds. Thornton letter with the original envelope. Médan, 5 July 1879; Hamden, CT, 10 June 1975
Zola: ". . . Present yourself one morning in my name to Mr. Desboutins . . . . He is the painter who had his show at the Salon of Messrs Bottes . . . . He will tell you whether photographs have been taken of his painting, or he will permit you to make a sketch. . . ." Wilder: "Hi, good to know that you and your constant readers get some fun out of those interchanges. "They are very bright girls and I'll bet their teachers are very superior teachers. ". . . [L]et's 'flutter the dove-cotes' and blow up a storm again sometime."
