Lucien DAUDET (1878-1946) 71 L.A.S., 1924-1927 and n.d., to Édouard FERRAS; 255 pages mostly in-4 (some letters incomplete; defects to some letters). Important correspondence to a young actor friend and collaborator. [Lucien Daudet and Édouard Ferras co-wrote Le Paradis perdu, a play in 3 acts, a Proustian adaptation of Balzac's La Femme abandonnée, first performed at the Théâtre des Mathurins on November 5, 1926, directed by Harry Baur with Ève Francis and Ferras himself. Daudet follows the beginnings of the young actor; he advises him to read Balzac to "know the human heart". Then we follow, scene by scene, the development of their play... The letters, often long, are written from the castle of La Roche, where he works near his mother in solitude, and where Ferras joins him; from Monte-Carlo, where he stays at the Balmoral Palace; but also from the rue de Bellechasse in Paris; he gives news of his neighbor Anatole France. The letters are more and more tender, Lucien (who sometimes signs "John") gives reading advice to his "dear Dino", recommends his hairdresser, etc. There is often a question of Reynaldo Hahn, and also of Jean Cocteau, Jean and Valentine Hugo, Francis Poulenc; he relates a theft of V. Hugo's manuscripts by Pierre de Lacretelle; he informs Édouard of his readings, etc. Attached is a L.A.S. to a theater director about Ferras and a tour of Sapho; a copy of a poem by the Duchess of Rohan about La Roche.