RACHILDE (Marguerite Eymery, Madame Alfred Vallette, known a - Lot 188

RACHILDE (Marguerite Eymery, Madame Alfred Vallette, known as). Born in Château-l'Évêque. 1860-1853. Woman of letters and salonnière. Published under the pseudonyms Jean de Childra and Jean de Chibra. Autograph poem signed "Rachilde", entitled Chanson bretonne. S.l.n.d. 2 pp. 1/2 large in-8. Yellow paper. Moving poem composed of 10 quatrains (octosyllables) evoking the death of a very young shepherdess who chose death rather than dishonor:...Oh! lower, Monsieur le Recteur / Don't have such a loud voice / You'll wake the dead. Don't waste your time / Don't light too long a candle / Our Lord and the Virgin / Don't ask so much of you! [...] A simple shepherdess of sixteen / Who has been fooled / She has been deceived, poor girl: / She was going to have a child [...] Sing lower, our Rector / Don't raise that loud voice / You'll wake up the dead girl / Whose heart was full of evil...