Marquis de Sade's Letters to His Wife Published by Flammarion

Flammarion has published '50 lettres du marquis de Sade à sa femme', a collection of letters from the Marquis de Sade to his wife Renée-Pélagie, selected by collector Pierre Leroy, including previously unpublished material. The edition features facsimiles alongside transcriptions in period French (with corrections) and modern French, all annotated. In her preface, Cécile Guilbert argues Sade is the opposite of a victim, citing Céline. The letters reveal Sade's obsessive attention to detail in commissions (e.g., measurements for a blanket or cravat) and his self-portrayal as a libertine but not a criminal or murderer, generous and courageous. His mood is changeable, understandable given he spent a third of his life imprisoned, yet he never renounces his ideas or his vehemence against his persecutors. The letters were subject to censorship and copied by a police clerk.