Both Voltaire and Frederick II were unhappy with this manuscript copy. In a letter to Frederick II of Prussia dated 15 October 1737, Voltaire described it as ‘le misérable manuscrit de l’Enfant prodigue qui est entre vos mains’ (D1376). Meanwhile, in a letter to Thiriot dated 6 December 1737, he described the same as ‘la détestable copie[…] que vous avez anvoyée (dont j’enrage) au prince royal’ (D1396).

L’enfant prodigue opened at the Comédie française on 10 October 1736. Lekain took on the role of Euphémon on 24 September 1750 and performed it three times between 1752 and 1756.

This copy is the only version to include an accent on Boursouflé. It is accompanied by a copy of Les Originaux, under the title of ‘Monsieur du cap vert’.

Desbordes’ edition was published in Amsterdam in 1739. The copy is made from the third volume of the edition.

It is likely that this MS is the copy that Decroix had made from the Longchamp manuscript in June 1787. There are corrections and annotations throughout. The MS appears to have been used by Lequien or Beuchot for their editions of Voltaire’s works.

The MS is heavily corrected throughout.