The fragments are bound with pieces relating to Voltaire and his time. An unknown hand has endorsed the MS as ‘fragmens d’une Preface de Baculard D’arnaud, destinée a l’edition de Dresde Rouen des œuvr. de Voltaire. / jls sont de s la main de D’Arnaud et les corrections sont de celle de Voltaire’. The leaves have been bound together in the wrong order: the text begins on p.3 (f.195r), continues to p.8 (f.197v), continues on f.194v, and concludes on f.194r. The pagination appears to be in Voltaire’s hand.

The preface is from the 1756 edition of Voltaire’s La Henriade.