Voltaire asks Michel Lambert to send him Luigi Ferdinando, conte di Marsigli’s Stato militare dell’imperio ottomano. He sends logistical instructions regarding proofs and printing and reminds Lambert that he is expecting an answer regarding a proposed joint publishing venture with the Cramer brothers of Geneva. He asks Lambert to sell the bulkier (folio and quarto) volumes that he left in Paris when leaving for Prussia in 1750. The final line (‘jattends de ses nouvelles’) and the signature (‘v’) are autograph.

Voltaire is sending proof corrections to Michel Lambert, having received the first sheet of his printing of La Henriade, which was eventually to be published as part of Lambert’s 1757 edition of Voltaire’s works. He advises on how the collaboration should proceed and hopes to see the Siècle de Louis XIV soon. The letter is wholly in Villaume’s hand with the exception of the date, which was added by Voltaire.

Voltaire is writing to Lambert with a business proposal from the Cramer brothers, who have approached Voltaire, interested in publishing his works. According to the offer, Cramer and Lambert would share the printing of the estimated dozen volumes of Voltaire’s Histoire universelle (later the Essai sur les mœurs), thus enabling it to be ready more quickly. The letter, most of which is in Villaume’s hand, contains several minor corrections. The last two paragraphs, as well as the valediction, signature and date, are in Voltaire’s hand. Voltaire first wrote ’28 aoust 1754′ before adding a curved vertical line to approximate a ‘9’.

Voltaire is in Senones undertaking research in the library for his universal history (Essai sur les mœurs). Villaume writes a bibliographic reference at the top of the letter, to which Voltaire appends a quote in Latin, both of which are omitted from published versions of this letter. Voltaire is asking Dupont for information relating to this reference.

Two bifoliums in Villaume’s hand with additions by Voltaire. The subject matter is in connection with the work that was to become, in 1756, the Essai sur les mœurs.

A book of reading notes on historical subjects, mainly in the hands of Voltaire, Collini and Villaume. There is a note in an unknown hand on f.58r. Wagnière has jotted at the start of the notebook (at the top of f.1r): ‘ce cahier contient 58 feuillets écrits, soit 116 pages’, then, heavily crossed out: ‘je prie qu’on en ait soin, n’aiant pout de double étant obligé de rendre l’original. le […] peut écrire à messieurs les rédacteurs ils pourront me l’envoier pour le copier’. The final leaf contains a list of errata for the work that was to become l’Essai sur les mœurs.

This copy of the text contains two grammatical oddities that align with those of the printed edition: the plural form ‘aucunes’ and ‘prière […] qu’il a traduit’.