Autograph letter signed, with an ink drawing.

8vo. 1 leaf. 4 pages on bifolium. An amusing letter to "Chère Adèle", adorned with a large original drawing at the head. Doré depicts himself from behind, disheveled, bowed, and advancing humbly towards a woman who has her back to him, arms crossed, holding a large walking stick and silhouetted by a mountain landscape. "Je viens d'apprendre par votre aimable enfant, que vous me boudez d'une façon grave et qu'il me faut vous approcher très précautieusement si je veux me faire écouter: c'est ce que j'essaie de faire, comme vous l'indique la planche ci-dessus". Doré assures her of his faithful correspondence, and wonders whether he underestimated the time necessary for a letter to reach Lucerne and then Interlaken. He is sorry "de n'avoir pas reçu de lettre de vous" and suggests that "avant de mal penser d'un ami comme moi, vous pourriez bien avoir le soupçon de tout autre contretemps indépendant de ma volonté". Moreover, he is surprised that she has cut short her trip, and that she has "laissé de côté cet admirable Chamouny". At least he is happy to have found her, but the struggles of Doré are not quite at an end; he also suffers from an "affreuse grippe qui me rend incapable de rien faire". A possible recipient of this lively note would be Adèle Cassin, Marquise de Landolfo Carcano, a patron of the arts and collector of painters, including Doré. - Gently creased along folds. Paper blindstamped with a letter D just above the drawing.