The MS has been corrected throughout by Voltaire. It is almost identical to the print edition, except for l.21-27. Here, multiple versions have been crossed out and written over so extensively that only incomplete sentences are legible.

The letter features a poem titled ‘L’homme inutile’.

Voltaire has signed the verse.

The letter contains a copy of a short verse titled ‘À Mme la Duchesse de ***’. The lines of the poem have been added to the bottom of f.97v in two columns of four lines each.

The letter contains a copy of a poem by Voltaire titled: ‘Aux princesses de Prusse Ulrique et Amélie.’ The manuscript’s present whereabouts are unknown, and it is presumed destroyed.

This copy of the poem is found in an autograph letter from Graffigny to Devaux dated 23 January [1743] where it is titled ‘Par Md. la duchesse de Bouflers a Md. du Chatelet’.

The letter contains four lines of verse known as ‘Sur la banqueroute d’un nommé Michel’.