LOUŸS (Pierre). Cross correspondence of Pierre Louÿs and Jean de Tinan. May 1894-September 1898. Collection of 98 autograph letters and 3 telegrams from Pierre Louÿs and 32 autograph letters from Jean de Tinan, comprising respectively 258 pp. and 56 pp. of various formats, with 86 envelopes enclosed. A fascinating cross-correspondence between Pierre Louÿs and his friend Jean de Tinan, covering the four years of their friendship as well as the short literary career of the latter, who died at the age of twenty-four in 1898. Lovers of women and good literature, the two young writers exchanged remarks that were both light and deep, affectionate and sarcastic, poking fun at a number of their contemporaries, including Robert de Souza, Francis Viélé-Griffin, Paul Bourget and Louis-Xavier de Ricard. Their loves are present throughout these pages, whether venal or not, ephemeral or lasting, and sometimes shared like Louÿs' affair with the Algerian Zohra or Tinan's with Marie de Régnier. Their exchanges begin here with a request from Jean de Tinan - he was twenty years old and had met Louÿs two months earlier - to send him a photograph he had seen at André Lebey's house. Very quickly, they became on familiar terms and shared many confidences. They exchanged news of their mutual friends, including Paul Valéry, André Lebey, André Fontainas, Franc-Nohain, Henri Albert, Claude Debussy, Gilbert de Voisins and the Heredia family. This correspondence naturally concerns their respective literary works: Les Chansons de Bilitis, Aphrodite, La Sévillane (La Femme et le pantin) by Louÿs; Érythrée de Tinan, Penses-tu réussir!, Maîtresse d'esthètes... They also discussed joint projects, such as founding Le Centaure with Henri Albert in 1896. This correspondence is peppered with verse, including a long poem by Louÿs in praise of a Poitiers prostitute and six pornographic quatrains by Tinan. The last letter in Tinan's hand, undated (late 1896?), is written from the Café Harcourt where he was waiting for a girlfriend, "meos lepidos amores". The following letters, after this date, are all from Louÿs (on the back of the letter of 7 November 1897, in Tinan's hand, a verse and the address of a certain Mme Vallée, written in pencil). Attached is the announcement of the funeral of Jean Lebarbier de Tinan, buried at Père Lachaise on 21 November 1898. And an autograph letter from Pierre Louÿs, Cairo [January 1898], to a friend, in which he talks about his sexual adventures and the delay in writing La Femme et le pantin. 3 pp. in-8, letter incomplete. From the Armand Godoy collection. Pierre Louÿs et Jean de Tinan, Correspondance 1894-1998, Éd. du Limon, 1995 (only the letter of 30 September 1895 from Louÿs to Tinan is not reproduced).