Autograph letter signed from Frederic II of Prussia to Voltaire, written from Berlin and dated 4 December 1739 [D2119]

Identifiers

CMV:

CMV33773

Repository:

Shelfmark:

MS 120.12

Title:

Autograph letter signed from Frederic II of Prussia to Voltaire, written from Berlin and dated 4 December 1739 [D2119]

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Content

People:

Incipit Diplomatic:

Mon cher ami, Vous me promettéz votre nouvelle tragedie toute achevée que j’atends avec beaucoup de curiosité et d’impatience

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Brief Summary:

Autograph letter signed from Frederic II of Prussia to Voltaire, written from Berlin and dated 4 December 1739.

Detailed Summary:

Frederick says that he awaits Voltaire’s new tragedy with great curiosity and impatience. He notes that he is sending Voltaire the first twelve chapters of his ‘antimachiavel’ which, though he has retouched them, are still teeming with faults. He complains that the court and city often distract him from his work, meaning that his writing is frequently put on hold. Frederick notes that Mr de Valori has arrived in Berlin, as well as a man named Celius who has received 20,000 crowns for his instruments and who will build in a year a mechanical machine that will demonstrate the motions of the stars and planets according to the system of Newton. He adds that a man named Liberquin will also be arriving soon from Paris, having spent some time prior to that in England and being greatly esteemed by the English scholars. Frederick then turns to Voltaire, writing that he knows him to be at Cirey and shares both his sorrows and pleasures. He tells Voltaire to take advantage of the pleasures of the world as much as he can because that is what a wise man must do, but not at the expense of his being, health, or life. He asks when Voltaire and Emilie [Du Châtelet] will travel North and notes that he is afraid that this will not happen soon, suggesting that he could kidnap them and bring them to him.

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Physical Description

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Extent:

2 ff.

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Dimensions:

231 x 188 mm

Hands:

1

Watermark:

The paper is watermarked with a crest bearing a horn, topped with a crown. Beneath the crest is text reading: ‘L V Gerrevlink’. This may refer to Lubertus van Gerrevink, owner of the Egmond Mill in the Netherlands.

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Additional Comments:

The pages were originally bifolium but have become separated. There are remnants of tape along the left-hand side of f.1r and the right-hand side of f.2v, along what would have been the original fold line. The pages feature additional horizontal and vertical fold lines. There is an ink stain in the centre of f.2v, and some further staining to the same folio, perhaps caused by wax. F.2v also features a pen trial in the bottom left-hand corner.

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Decorations:

Undecorated

Additions:

There are some very minor corrections in the form of crossings through and the addition of text in superscript throughout. A brace has been added to a large section of the text on f.1r.

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