The MS is divided into the following sections:

• ‘Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médecin du Pape: décret de l’Inquisition; et rapport des professeurs de Rome au sujet d’un prétendu Président. Rome 1753.’
  
• ‘Berlin du 16eme Decembre 1752’
• ‘Decret de l’Inquisition de Rome’
• ‘Augement des Professeurs du Collége de la Sapience’
• ‘Mémoire’, written in the hand of Collini with an autograph correction by Voltaire
• ‘Reponse de Mr de Voltaire à Mr de Maupertuis’
• ‘Avertisement qui a paru dans les gazettes litteraires et ordinaires de Leipzig’

The letter is incomplete as the beginning is missing. Voltaire writes that, while waiting for the Berlin package, there is a little joke with which d’Arnaud can feast on with Frederick II of Prussia; he ran very unfaithful copies. Voltaire asks for d’Arnaud’s opinion on this matter and adds that he should learn news from Catilina, a tragedy Voltaire would publish in 1752. He concludes by saying that he still has no news of the English packet, and adds that he awaits with impatience Frederick II of Prussia. In a postscript, Voltaire states that he will be in Cirey for the entirety of January and would be glad if d’Arnaud could write to him.

Voltaire asked Hersch to purchase bonds on his behalf. Voltaire gave Hersch notes to do so and in return Hersh deposited jewellery with Voltaire for security. Finding a more favourable deal elsewhere, however, Voltaire withdrew from the deal and Hersch was subsequently arrested. In this document, Hersch presents his side of the story, stating that Voltaire had been spreading lies and seducing the public with misinformation.

Bürden sends Goethe some of his theatrical works, which he hopes might be of use for the Weimar Theater. He notes that he was requested by Iffland to make a translation of Voltaire’s Alzire, but that he was not happy with it when it was performed in Berlin. This, he suggests, is why Goethe is receiving a new reworking from him. He then references Rousseau’s “small piece of intrigue”, which he says deserves Germanisation.

Frederick remarks upon how busy he is, claiming that many matters require his attention at present. He goes on to note that he will no longer be shocked after what he has witnessed during this monstrous century, writing that his books from Berlin are his only consolation. Frederick then mentions the works he has been reading, notably Charles Batteux’s Les Beaux-arts réduites à un même principe (1746), before discussing a series of literary figures including Nicolas Boileau, Virgil, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Racine, Homer, Pierre Corneille, Joseph de La Grange Chancel, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, and Voltaire.

In the mémoire, Voltaire claims that his Histoire Universelle has been disfigured by Jean Néaulme in Berlin and Duchesne in Paris. He notes that it is not his fault if there have been unworthy popes, bad princes, and bad bishops, and neither is it his fault that people at court are ignorant. He asks the recipient to get rid of the existing copies of the work if possible, and asks to make public the purity of his conduct before the King, adding that he is threatened with an outburst from the Archibishop of Paris.

Voltaire begins by saying that whilst they await the paquet from Berlin, he is sending the recipient a small funny thing with which to treat Frederic II of Prussia, adding that very unfaithful copies of it have been circulated. He instructs Baculard d’Arnaud to give him his thoughts on the trifle, and give him news of his tragedy Catiline. He ends by bidding farewell to Baculard d’Arnaud and noting that he will be in Cirey for all of January. In an addition to the copy of this letter used for the Besterman edition (BNF, MS f.fr. 12941, p.305), Voltaire also notes that he knowns nothing more of the paquet from England and awaits with impatience news of Frederic II, ending his letter with the line: ‘vous serez bien aimable de m’ecrire’.

Voltaire writes that he received Rolt’s letter yesterday, despite it being dated December, detailing two mistakes which meant that the book that accompanied the letter had not reached Voltaire for some time. He adds that he had read Rolt’s ‘curious history’ with great pleasure, noting that he is a good patriot and a faithful historian. He ends by saying that he hopes Rolt has received due praise in England for the work.

Louisa Ulrica writes that she is informing Voltaire of the strangest adventure of her life. She notes that whilst withdrawn in her solitude in the time that Morpheus sows his poppies, she had a soft and quiet sleep, and had a ‘charming’ dream. In the dream, Apollo, followed by the nine Sisters came into view and Apollo told Louisa Ulrica that he had heard that she had received verses from his favourite and that a puny prose was all that she could answer. Such a response was offensive, and Apollo has come to offer forgiveness from the Gods by writing better verse. She then writes out the verse which praises Voltaire and the positive effect he had on Berlin during his visit.

Frederick says that he awaits Voltaire’s new tragedy with great curiosity and impatience. He notes that he is sending Voltaire the first twelve chapters of his Anti-Machiavel which, though he has retouched them, are still teeming with faults. He complains that the court and city often distract him from his work, meaning that his writing is frequently put on hold. Frederick notes that Mr de Valori has arrived in Berlin, as well as a man named Celius who has received 20,000 crowns for his instruments and who will build in a year a mechanical machine that will demonstrate the motions of the stars and planets according to the system of Newton. He adds that a man named Liberquin will also be arriving soon from Paris, having spent some time prior to that in England and being greatly esteemed by the English scholars. Frederick then turns to Voltaire, writing that he knows him to be at Cirey and shares both his sorrows and pleasures. He tells Voltaire to take advantage of the pleasures of the world as much as he can because that is what a wise man must do, but not at the expense of his being, health, or life. He asks when Voltaire and Emilie [Du Châtelet] will travel North and notes that he is afraid that this will not happen soon, suggesting that he could kidnap them and bring them to him.