Autograph letter, signed ‘Marcel Proust’ (at the head above salutation), 1 page, 8vo, n.d. [c. 1905?], in French, with center fold, to an unnamed gentleman, regretting that the state of his health prevents him from collaborating on a joint project, framed.

[Translation]: <‘I happen to be dying [je viens d’etre mourant] and that is the only excuse – very true, very good, but very bad – for my delay in replying to you. Your letter pleased me very much. I would be very honoured to be included among your collaborators. But my actual collaboration is alas another matter. I do not want to promise what I cannot be absolutely certain of performing, and of what can a dying man be certain? Of one thing certainly – the true sympathy of which he begs you to find here the warmest expression. Marcel Proust’>
Proust was a sickly child and had suffered from asthma since the age of ten, but he nonetheless led an active life in Parisian society in his 20s and early 30s. However, the death of his mother in 1905—an especially traumatic event for him—caused his health to deteriorate to such an extent that he fully withdrew from society, sleeping away the days and rarely leaving his cork-lined bedroom. He wrote the entirety of his epic, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time), from his bed, and his constant struggle with illness, much of it no doubt exacerbated by the psychological toll of losing his mother, ironically provided the impetus and seclusion needed to complete his life’s work.
h. 7-1/4 w. 5-1/2 in.
overall: 11 x 9 in. (frame)