The letter begins with a poem, ‘A monsieur le maréchal duc de Richelieu, à qui le sénat de Gènes avait érigé une statue’. In a concluding prose section, Voltaire notes that he imagines the recipient, Maréchal Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, will be invited to dine with the President in Paris upon his arrival as his glory means that he must lack nothing. Voltaire ends by saying he has just received Louis’ letter.

The letter begins with a poem, ‘A monsieur le maréchal duc de Richelieu, à qui le sénat de Gènes avait érigé une statue’. This is written in a secretarial hand.

In a concluding prose section, added in his own hand, Voltaire notes that he imagines the recipient, Maréchal Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, will be invited to dine with the President in Paris upon his arrival as his glory means that he must lack nothing. Voltaire ends by saying he has just received Louis’ letter.

This copy of the poem is given an alternative title: ‘A Mr le Prince et Mme la Pcesse de Craon qui l’invitaient à venir chez eux.’

In the letter, Voltaire notes that as soon as Émilie du Châtelet has finished her great business, he will have no more pressing matters than to take advantage of the kindnesses of the Prince and Princess. He ends by asking them to accept his deepest respects. The letter is dated 15 August 1749.

The poem preceding the letter was written by Voltaire whilst in Lorraine, likely between February and December 1748. In it, he praises Lunéville and the pleasures he experienced there amongst the wise. The final lines of the poem have been heavily corrected. Besterman suggests that they may have been transcribed from the autograph original (CMV34556) which is similarly revised.

The phrase ‘concernant le XVIe siècle en France’ is written in Voltaire’s hand.

The verse seems to have been composed during Voltaire’s stay at Cirey, likely in September/October 1734.

Bolaffi asks that the booksellers, Dey and Gravier, be kind enough to give to Mr. Daninos (the deliverer of the letter) the fifty copies of La Henriade that Bolaffi had translated into Italian. He notes that these copies were sent to Dey and Gravier by Mr. Fayolle, another bookseller.

Voltaire begins by saying that he is staying at Condrieux. He flatters Servan and asks after his health, before going on to complain about his exile from Paris. Voltaire then asks Servan for advice on which books to read to gain an understanding of the laws of modern governments such as Denmark and Sweden, rather than those of past governments such as Rome and Sparta.

The manuscript is a lettre en vers featuring four poems. The author profusely apologises for his lack of aptitude in accomplishing such an aesthetic feat (i.e. creation of lettre en vers), reflects on the subpar poetry authored by mediocre poets, and mentions his s encounter with Madame du Chatelet in Paris. Additionally, according to Besterman, ‘ED1 proposes tentatively November/December 1738, but the reference to a meeting with mme Du Châtelet in Paris some time since is the only clue.’