MALLARMÉ Stéphane and Émile VERHAEREN. Autograph correspondence relating to the monument in homage to Verlaine. Autograph letter signed by Verhaeren to Stéphane Mallarmé. [Brussels], 11 December 1897 (1 p. ½ in-8, envelope). Draft of Mallarmé's autograph reply [December 1897]. 1 p. in-8 (200 x 157 mm). Erasures and corrections. A member of the Belgian committee for the Verlaine monument, Verhaeren sends the 220 frs from Libre Esthétique; he also has ten works by artists which he hopes will bring in 1,000 frs, in aid of the erection of a monument in homage to Verlaine by the sculptor Auguste de Niederhausern. He was struck by "his annual fever" but went to see Mallarmé in Paris on 15 May. Seeing that the sum raised would not be enough, Mallarmé worked on a follow-up letter: "We still need just under three thousand francs to respond to the imposing though simple project agreed with the sculptor M. de Niederhausern, due to the artist's disinterestedness and strict thriftiness. The Committee is reluctant to abandon the intimate, reserved and discreet means it has hitherto used to appeal only to the Poet's faithful admirers and, in order to make a plausible appeal to the general public through the common channels used on such occasions, its members have deemed it more appropriate to address each of the subscribers once again, in a familiar and trusting manner...". At the instigation of Cazals, the committee responsible for erecting a monument to Verlaine in the Luxembourg gardens met in the spring of 1896 under the chairmanship of Mallarmé. Despite some misgivings raised by the poet's reputation and the posthumous publication of his Invectives, the committee launched a public subscription. In November 1897, Auguste Rodo de Niederhausern asked for an advance to start work on the statue. The statue of Verlaine was not unveiled in the Luxembourg Gardens until 1911. This letter is included in the edition of Mallarmé's correspondence.