Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
A dinner with Mérimée. c.1860-1864
Autograph letter signed ('I. Turgenev') to [Emile Augier], 210 rue de Rivoli, [Paris], 'Mercredi', n.d. [c.1860-1864].

In French. 1½ pages, 131 x 103mm, on a bifolium with embossed initials 'JT'.

A dinner with Mérimée. 'Yesterday evening I received a letter from Mérimée to tell me that an invitation from the Emperor [Napoleon III] prevented him from coming to dine with us on Friday'. Mérimée has proposed the Monday or Tuesday as alternatives, and Turgenev asks Augier which he prefers: 'You will not refuse me, I hope?'.

The author and archaeologist Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) was a strong partisan of the Russian language, which he described as 'the most beautiful language in Europe', and translated works by Pushkin and Gogol; his friendship with Turgenev dated from the latter's residence in Paris after 1857. Emile Augier (1820-1889) was a successful playwright.

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