Collection of 7 L.A.S. and one L.S., 1735-1770; to miscellaneous; each letter in a window mount. All bound in one in-fol volume
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV33329
Repository:
Shelfmark:
Christie’s- Lot 157 (C)
Title:
Collection of 7 L.A.S. and one L.S., 1735-1770; to miscellaneous; each letter in a window mount. All bound in one in-fol volume
Collection(s):
No related collections found.
Related record(s):
No related manuscripts found.
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Reproductions:
Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Mon cher duc de Foix, il faut donc que Sceaux ait toujours des Barons, mais le teatre de Paris n’a pas toujours des Lecouvreur.
Incipit Modernised:
Language(s):
In Voltaire’s Hand:
Brief Summary:
Autograph letter signed from Voltaire to Henri Lambert d’Herbigny, marquis de Thibouville, written from Berlin and dated 18 December 1752.
Detailed Summary:
Voltaire discusses his dismay at Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] having compromised herself with a gambling den. He writes that he has sent letters to de Richelieu making his feelings about the gambling den clear and places the matter in the hands of God, adding that he did in Zulime as much as Louis XIV and Louis XV would allow him to do. He ends by asking the recipient to put him ‘at the feet of Madame la Duchesse du Maine’, writing that she is a ‘predestined soul’ who will love comedy until her last moment. He advises the recipient to administer her a beautiful play rather than an extreme unction if she falls ill and concludes that ‘one dies as one has lived.’
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Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
2 pp.
Format:
Dimensions:
Hands:
1
Watermark:
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Binding:
Additional Comments:
Materiality Keywords:
Decorations:
Undecorated
Additions:
Minor corrections have been made throughout the collection by Voltaire in the form of crossing out and underlining.
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History
Date:
Ownership:
Origin (transcript):
Origin:
Provenance:
Passed at the Charavay sale in Paris on 17 April 1880 (Lot 31), then again in Paris on 28 March 1882 (Lot 1). It was later acquired in England. Sold as a joint lot at auction by Christie’s on 6 November 2013 (Lot 157) for €54,300. All of the letters were sold again at auction by Drouot in Paris on 8 April 2022 (Lot 251).
Bibliography
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