The copy was made for Count Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov and was sent to him with D8868.

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

The manuscript offers variants of Act IV, l.166a-182 and Act V, l.53-68. It is the only known original manuscript of Alzire to have survived. The variant for Act V is written in the left-hand margin of f.1r in Voltaire’s hand.

A second hand has added a list of characters to the MS.

It is likely that this was a prompt copy used at the Comédie-Française. The play was first performance at the Comédie-Française at the ‘Jeu de Paume de l’Etoile’ on Monday 18 January 1734.

The copy is a clean one in a regular hand. Alternative readings are provided at the bottom of the page, but it is not clear which part of the text they relate to. There are several minor errors, when compared to the print edition, throughout.

The MS is almost identical to a second copy of the work found in the same volume (CMV36657). Variants appear to have been taken from a later version of the work, likely the 1740 Paris edition, and have been added above the line and in the margins.

The MS is almost identical to a second copy of the work found in the same volume (CMV36658). The text has been crossed through, and the margins on all pages except the first have been populated with another unrelated text.