Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Catherine of Aragon documents in Paris auction
A letter from Brigitte Bardot asking a record company not to publish her breathless duet with Serge Gainsbourg, Je t’aime moi non plus, is among more than 1,500 letters and writings to be auctioned in Paris in mid-November.
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In her letter to record company Philips of December 21, 1967, the screen goddess urges the firm "not under any circumstances" to release her passionate duet with Serge Gainsbourg, because her husband of the time, Gunter Sachs, objected to the recording.
“I am counting on you to stop this song immediately and I am prepared to refund any costs which you might incur by making this change”
The letter, a jewel of French pop history, is listed at between 2,000 euros and 2,500 euros.
The song, later recorded by Gainsbourg and British singer Jane Birkin, became an international hit.
Documents written by Grace Kelly and Katherine Hepburn as well as modern day actress Isabelle Adjani will also go under the hammer on 18 -19 November.
The whole collection was amassed by Claude de Flers and it also includes missives from Coco Chanel and passion-filled letters to the literary giant Victor Hugo from his mistress Juliette Drouet.
The rarest document is the signed letter from Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) to a Spanish cardinal pleading for the pope's help in blocking English king Henry VIII's attempts to annul their marriage because she had failed to produce a son.
Rome's refusal to grant Henry a divorce led to a schism within the Roman Catholic Church as Henry appointed himself head of the Church of England, a key moment in British history.
The Ader Nordmann auction house expects the letter, dated October 3, 1529, to fetch between 35,000 euros and 40,000 euros.
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