DREYFUS | autograph letters by Alfred and Mathieu Dreyfus, Colonel Picquart and Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, 1901-2

DREYFUS, ALFRED

A COLLECTION OF FOUR ITEMS BY CENTRAL FIGURES IN THE DREYFUS AFFAIR, IN FRENCH: 

i) Dreyfus, Alfred, autograph card signed, to "Cher Monsieur", arranging a meeting, 1 page, small oblong 8vo, "Jeudi"

ii) Dreyfus, Mathieu (elder brother of Alfred), engraved visiting card with autograph autograph note to M. and Mme Reinach, updating them on the slow recovery of his brother, 2 pages, small oblong 8vo, np., [1902?]

iii) Picquart, Georges, autograph letter signed, to "Cher Monsieur et Ami", explaining that he has lost the invoice for a series of maps he has had engraved, 1 page, 8vo, integral blank, Paris, 3 December 1901

iv) Waldeck-Rousseau, Pierre, autograph letter signed, to "Cher Monsieur", 1 page, 8vo, integral blank, 35 Rue de l'Université, Paris, "Dimanche"

All items mounted on two album leaves together with related press cuttings and portraits

It was Colonel Picqart in 1896 who discovered that the notorious bordereau used to implicate and convict Dreyfus had actually been the work of Major Esterhazy. He was transferred to the Tunisian desert for his troubles but was later exonerated (along with Dreyfus) and eventually became Minister of War under Clemenceau. Mathieu's correspondent is probably his brother-in-law, Joseph Reinach, a member of parliament who helped in Dreyfus's defence. As French Prime Minister during 1899-1902, Waldeck-Rousseau skilfully distanced the government from the second court-martial of Dreyfus at Rennes, so that the President of the Republic could grant him a pardon.

PROVENANCE:

The Pencarrow Collection; Sotheby's, London, 8 December 1999, lot 175

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