['Max O'Rell' [Léon Paul Blouet], French author and journalist.] Cabinet Card photographic portrait by Taber of San Francisco, signed 'Max O'Rell'; with Autograph Letter Signed to his lecture agent E. W. Appleton, regarding fees.

ONE: Cabinet Card: 13.5 x 10 cm photographic head-and-shoulders portrait of Blouet, smartly-dressed with glasses and handlebar moustache, mounted on 16.5 x 10.5 cm card, with printed details of the photographers Taber's printed in gold below the image, and an elaborate advertisement for the firm printed in brown on the reverse. In fair condition, lightly aged. Inscribed on the base of the print: 'Yours Sincerely | Max O'Rell'. TWO: Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Appleton', i.e. E. W. Appleton. 1p, 12mo. On bifolium. 14 December 1885; 2 Lime Grove, Uxbridge Road, W. [London] In fair condition, aged and worn, with central spike hole. He is enclosing a cheque for £3 9s 6d, 'which I believe you will find correct to amount of fees received of me.' In a postscript he asks him, on acknowledging receipt of the cheque, to 'please say if I can see you on Wednesday, at Clifford's Inn, at about 2 p.m. | M. O'R.' The Woodson Research Centre, Rice University, Houston, has a collection of Blouet's letters to Appleton, who acted as agent for his lectures (see J. Verhoeven, 'Jovial Bigotry: Max O’Rell and the Transnational Debate over Manners and Morals in 19th Century France, Britain and the United States', 2012).