Fair copy of a letter from Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand to Voltaire, written from Paris and dated 15 April 1769.
Detailed Summary:
Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand implores Voltaire to hurry to respond to her as she has heard that he said in the presence of witnesses that he had had a deed passed before a notary. She asks if the news is true, what the Act will do for him, if it will be before a tribunal of human or divine justice, if he will produce it at the Sorbonne or in Parliament, what his friends think, and why he did not warn them. She adds that this trait is so new in Voltaire that she cannot understand his reasoning. The Marquise then turns to her present company, noting that La Grand Maman does not want anyone else to read, and does it superiorly with a voice that goes to the heart and an intelligence that makes you feel and notice everything. She states that Voltaire would not know any others in her party, before noting that the President received with pleasure her message about Voltaire’s friendship for him. She concludes by asking Voltaire to thank his son-in-law on her behalf for sending her a copy of Voltaire’s homilies, stating that she will write to him herself, but that Voltaire’s words are a thousand times better than any she could write.
The paper is watermarked with three different watermarks: text reading ‘Sebille van Ketel & Wassenbergh’; a shield with the initials ‘SKW’; and text reading ‘D&C Blauw’.
Countermark:
Binding:
Additional Comments:
The text is contained within frames of plummet. The binder’s blank flyleaves at the beginning and end are in c.19th wove paper. The binder has titled the collection: ‘Recueil de letters. Tome 1’.
Materiality Keywords:
Decorations:
Undecorated
Additions:
There are corrections and marginal notes scattered throughout. Additional pencil annotations have been added in a later hand.