5 autograph letters signed.

8vo and oblong 8vo. Together 10 pp. Interesting collection of letters spanning three decades, including a passionate plea for artistic freedom. This plea is part of an undated letter that was probably addressed to the writer and theatre director Paul Ginisty. After congratulating the recipient on a representation of Corneille's Cid, Saint-Sa ns writes at length about authorship and artistic ingenuity, dismissing the possibility of "machine art" and describing a "special cerebral state" during the production of a work of art that "ends forever when the work is finished". In closing, Saint-Sa ns praises Ginisty's Th tre de l'Od on as a "theatre of art" and pleads with the recipient to "preserve this character well", reminding him that there is only one way to achieve this: "liberty" as "art does not live in captivity". Paul Ginisty, identified as the recipient in a collector's note, was director of the Od on from 1896 to 1906. Camille Saint-Sa ns' D janire had its Paris premiere at the Od on in 1898. - The earliest letter in the collection was written to thank an unnamed friend and collaborator for his devotion: "Vous tes toujours le plus d vou et le plus d licieux des amis. Merci tous mes interpr tes et bien des amiti s mes vieux copains [.]" (Paris, 16 August 1892). - On 16 February 1903 Saint-Sa ns wrote from Cairo to an unnamed impresario in Aix, reporting that the mezzosoprano Charlotte Wyns enjoyed a "truly extraordinary success in Alexandria in Proserpine" and suggesting that she and the tenor Edmond Cl ment should sing in Proserpine in Aix, where he would join the rehearsals. - In a charming letter from 28 June 1913, the maestro thanks a young singer for her letter and for remembering him, asserting that he has not forgotten anything "of the charming woman, the artist" with whom he would have "wanted so much to entrust the role of Phryn ". Since she "does not scorn the company of an old bearded man" like him, Saint-Sa ns promises that he will contact her once he has more time. - Finally, an undated letter was to inform the recipient, probably a young singer, that Saint-Sa ns did not approve of the plan of a "Marquise whom all of Paris knows" to have her play in a comedy in his style: "Une marquise que tout Paris conna t m' crit qu'elle vous a parl de vous faire jouer dans son salon une com die de ma fa on ; l'a-t-elle fait ou a -t-elle en seulement l'intention de la faire, je ne sais, mais je tiens ce que vous sachiez que je ne suis pas bien dans une telle d marche". - The letter from Cairo on mourning paper. The letter from 1913 with embossed letterhead "Rue de Courcelles, 83bis". Occasional browning and minimally stained; the letter from Cairo with deep tears to the folds, partly affecting the text. The letter dated 16 August 1982 with two holes partly affecting the text and traces of former mounting.