Constant COQUELIN aîné (1842-1909). P.S. with autograph apostille, and L.A.S., 1860-1871; 3pages in-fol. partly printed on Comédie Française letterhead, and 4pages in-8 on Comédie Française letterhead. Paris, August 1, 1860. His contract of employment at the Comédie-Française as a boarder in the "Comiques" department for one year, for the sum of 150 francs per month, i.e. 1800 francs per year. Contract signed and apostilled by Coquelin and by Édouard Thierry, General Administrator of the Comédie-Française. Enclosed is a photocopy of his younger brother Ernest Coquelin's contract (1876). London Thursday [May 18, 1871], to Édouard Thierry, general administrator of the Comédie-Française. [During the Commune, part of the troupe went to perform in London, under the direction of Edmond Got.] Coquelin gives news: they have rehearsed Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard and Les Fourberies de Scapin. The performance of L'Aventurière "had a good effect, the takings were low, alas! 2500, but the success was worth the triple. Mlle Favart improvised this role in the most remarkable way [...] Yesterday's L'Avare made 3400F, which is still not enough, because we need to do more. It doesn't make sense that other theaters are doing well and that the Théâtre Français isn't turning people away". He urges Thierry to come, and sharply criticizes director Edmond Got: "Everyone is dissatisfied, and no one wants to start a revolution, fortunately! We mustn't give the English people the spectacle of a stampede that would make them laugh at us and our country, and bring us into disrepute [...] Not all petty jealousies have remained in Paris, they flourish just as well on the banks of the Thames as on the banks of the Seine, and our sad profession has the most abominable specialty in them". As for the situation in Paris, "my heart bleeds at the thought of this collapse"...