The text consists of ten verses.

Voltaire opens by saying that when he asked Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand to urge her friends to speak to Maurepas, it was not for fear that it would do him harm. He turns to the recent appearance of some scandalous letters, asking if the duchesse du Maine is angry that he put Newton above Descartes, or if the duchesse de Villars will react badly to his treatment of her innate ideas as chimeras. He then turns to the Jansenists, whom he says want him to burn for certain of his theological ideas that he published whilst in London. He adds that his English publisher found him very moderate. He goes on to say that he had thought to leave France forever when he gave Tiriot permission two years ago to print this work, and that he has since changed his mind, adding that it is unfortunate that the letters appear in France when he most wants to stay there. He concludes by saying that he does not know if he will return to France. He asks her to send any letters for him to Paris opposite St Gervais as they will find him, asking that she marks her letter (for example with ‘DD’) so that he can easily identify which letters come from her.

Notebook ‘1934’ includes 137 encrypted pages, plus the backs of the covers and unencrypted cover sheers. Gide discusses his notes on his readings (Dos Passos, Shakespeare, Hölderlin, Voltaire, Racine, Lamennais, Zola, Goethe, Platen, Schiller, Descartes, and Balzac), his reflections on music (Bach and Chopin), and his reflections on lierature (Goethe, Voltaire, the diction of verses, and Baudelaire).

The ordering of the pages has become muddled, resulting in the pages being ordered as follows: 1-6, 12, 7-11, 13-14.

Voltaire begins by saying that he misses the court of Frederick II and adds that he is sending a copy of his tragedy Mahomet as Frederick had wanted to see the first sketches. Voltaire calls it a tribute to him, the lover of the arts, the enlightened judge, and the philosopher who is much more than just a sovereign. He goes on to say that Frederick knows what motivated him to write Mahomet: the love of the human race, and the horror of fanaticism. He claims that tragedy should touch the heart without correcting it and reveal hypocrisies. Voltaire then defends his tragedy, stating that our histories teach us of more atrocious actions than those he had invented for the play, citing various examples such as Alfonso Diaz, Antonio de Herrera, Baltasard Girard, and one James Shepherd, a sixteen-year-old boy who attempted to murder George I of England. Voltaire then discusses superstition in relation to various philosophers such as Socrates and Descartes, before exploring Muhammad in detail, discussing his history and various interpretations of him.