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).

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’.