The MS opens with a poem titled ‘Epitre a M. Thieriot’. In the letter that follows, Voltaire writes that he sends a thousand compliments to his friend Bernard for cultivating the muses. He adds that he does not know why the public persists in believing that he wrote Montézume, adding that his scene in Zadig is set in Peru. He then turns to ‘Le Franc’ whom he claims has prevented Mademoiselle Dufresne from playing and expresses his doubts over the suitability of Mademoiselle Gossin for the role. Voltaire ends by remarking upon his ill health.

The letter concerns illustrations for an edition of Zadig published by the Société des Amis des Livres (1893).

The translation of Voltaire’s Zadig, found on f.61, was made by Francis Ashmore Esquire c.1780.

The dedication of the tragedy d’Oreste to the duchesse du Maine, protector of Voltaire, which contains numerous corrections by Voltaire as well as passages that do not appear in the printed dedication. Voltaire recalls the splendour of Louis XIV, to which the duchesse du Maine contributed so much, particularly with regard to her taste for the interpretation of plays. Voltaire writes that he has not forgotten that the duchesse du Maine offered him a secret asylum in her Château de Sceaux four years earlier, where he wrote Zadig. In an appended note, Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, duchesse du Maine writes that she does not deserve such praises but that she approves of the epistle.