PORTIER (Paul). - Lot 254

PORTIER (Paul). Bar-sur-Seine, 1866 – Paris, 1962. French biologist and marine zoologist; collaborated with Charles Richet on the discovery of anaphylaxis. Autographed postcard signed “P. Portier,” addressed to “My dear Maurice” [Maurice Emmanuel]. Bar-sur-Aube, undated [1918]. 1 page, oblong in-12 format. Military postcard, with a hospital stamp. An interesting card written during World War I, while Portier was at the military hospital in Bar-sur-Aube. Having learned that his correspondent was staying in La Rochelle, he approves of this decision to temporarily withdraw, which he considers wise, while also suggesting the possibility of an additional refuge on the Île de Ré, where he mentions a relative, Dr. Kéjaisson, mayor of Ars-en-Ré. The postcard takes on particular significance when Portier discusses his own situation: having recently been withdrawn from the front, he recalls that “a month ago, the cannons were thundering in our ears”—a striking phrase that attests to the proximity of the fighting and the violence of the environment in which he had been living until very recently. A brief yet evocative document, blending concerns for friends with a firsthand account of living conditions during wartime, revealing a more intimate and historical facet of the scholar’s correspondence.