Gérard de NERVAL (1808-1885). L.A.S. "G. Labrunie", Cairo February 14 [1843, to his father, M. Labrunie; 3 pages in-8, address with postmarks (disinfection cracks; small missing at one corner). Beautiful letter to his father, about his trip to Egypt and his stay in Cairo. ... "We visited Alexandria and the surrounding area, then hired a boat to go up the Nile. It took us five days to get to Cairo. The city is immense and we hardly know any of it. We started by staying at the French hotel, but we had to pay 7ll50 per day, so we were told that it was better to rent a house and have our cooking done there, everything being very cheap. After five or six days in a hotel we took this decision. We found a complete house in the Coptic district, for 1ll25 per day each. The servant costs us 75c and the food, and so we live very well and very properly". They visited with the consul "the palace and gardens of Ibrahim pasha. In two days he promised to take us himself to Giza and the pyramids. Having been received into the Egyptian Society, he has "all the possible books concerning Egypt which allows me to study, as I see things". His health is excellent... He eats only simple things and does not do "any kind of excess [...] poultry is very cheap and we also eat a lot of rice and vegetables. We have excellent green peas. As for fruit, it is not the season for it and we only ate fresh dates in Alexandria and bananas which are delicious; but in Cairo they are no longer available. The weather is always beautiful and constantly represents a European summer, or at least a spring. The greenness and the flowers are eternal in these happy countries, I cross delicious gardens every day in the city itself. However, we will soon be on our way again to visit a few more places in the country and then head for Syria in order to be in Jerusalem for Easter. This is the best time to see this city; then we will head for Damascus and Beirut"... The Egyptians "are admirably gentle and would be the best people on earth if it were not for their greed for Bachiz (tips). The city is very big and the trips are very long, but there is a very convenient system of anes which everyone uses. They are much stronger than in Europe and go very fast, so that you don't get tired or overheated running. It costs about five cents an hour; it is almost impossible to go on foot. Nerval thinks about his isolation and his father, from whom he suffers from being away. He hopes to be back by July "having done the whole tour and amassed good subjects for work". His health "has not been shaken for a moment"... Œuvres complètes (ed. Guillaume-Pichois, Pléiade), t. I, p. 1391. Former collections of Arsène and Henry Houssaye; Jules Marsan (n° 46, 1°); then Daniel Sickles (II, 459). Exhibition Gérard de Nerval, Maison de Balzac 1981 (n° 107).