COHEN (Albert). Born in Corfu (Greece). 1895-1981. French-speaking Swiss writer, playwright and poet. He published his first novel in 1930 ("Solal") and achieved literary fame with Belle du Seigneur in 1968. L.A.S. "Albert Cohen" to Marie-Jeanne Forestier. S.l.n.d. [Geneva, 18 December 1954]. 1 page 1/2 small in-4. Embossed paper with his address. Stamped envelope enclosed. Very beautiful and moving letter following the sudden death of Édouard Forestier, with whom Cohen had been in contact a few months earlier. Forestier had written an article (published in Match in June 1954) about Cohen's new novel, Le livre de ma Mère. ...I had heard the awful news from L.D. Hirsch [Louis-Daniel Hirsch, 1891-1974, commercial director of Gallimard from 1922 to 1974]. I didn't know that Édouard Forestier was married. If I had known, I would have written to you, I would have told you the pain I felt. I still feel that pain. I only saw him once between ten in the evening and midnight or one in the morning. I'll never forget that meeting. An immediate friendship had sprung up, somewhat miraculously. We felt close, like brothers. Our conversation was immediately familiar, like friends reuniting after years of absence. After meeting him at last, I lost him so quickly. I hope to be able to come to Paris in January. I'll telephone you and we'll meet and you can tell me all about him. Of course I'll read the manuscript he finished. Thank you for thinking of sending me Les Langes, which I was unable to find in Geneva (...) Please accept my sympathy. It is sincere, it is warm, and it might alleviate some of the pain I feel and share... He adds in p.-s. ...Thank you for what you tell me about Solal... Albert Cohen gave Forestier Le Livre de ma Mère with this dedication: "To Édouard Forestier, as a token of my immediate sympathy, I offer this book, which he will love because he loves his mother...". Édouard Forestier had published Les Langes with Gallimard in 1946. The two men would meet only once. Édouard Forestier died in a car accident in July 1954.