After Voltaire’s death, Longchamp recalls the time he spent in the writer’s service, which coincided with the Cirey period, including trips to Fontainebleau, Sceaux and Lunéville. The document was edited by Decroix for publication.
The paper is watermarked with a shield bearing a post horn.
Countermark:
Binding:
Additional Comments:
F. 1, f.8-11, and f.14 have been added by Decroix, replacing pages missing from the original. Between f.30 and f.31, a smaller scrap of paper is bound bearing text to be inserted on f.31r. F.57b, similarly a smaller band of paper, is bound between f.57 and f.58 and contains text to overwrite a section on f.57v. F.71, also a smaller paper bound between the originally consecutive f.70 and f.72, contains editorial comments. F.82b is, between f.82 and f.83, bears text to replace a section of f.83. F.18 is torn, with the bottom (a little less than half) missing. The book was originally paginated by Longchamp; Decroix, after adding ff.8-10 to replace original pages 15-18, amends the pagination of ff.12r-13v (where pp.19-22 become pp.23-26). He subsequently stops amending the pagination, but mentally adds 4 thereafter, so that f.82bis bears a note in his hand to indicate that it follows ‘page 181’, referring to Longchamp’s page 167 (f.82v). There is an ink blot in the upper right-hand corner of f.12r.
As well as the extra leaves (of variable shape and size) indicated above, Longchamp’s text is corrected throughout, heavily in places, by Decroix. Bibliothèque nationale stamps appear on ff.1r, 46r, 57, 82, 104v, and on the unnumbered added paper between f.30 and f.31.
S. G. Lonchamp and J.-L. Wagnière, Mémoires sur Voltaire et sur ses ouvrages, 2 vol., Paris, André, 1826, vol.2, pp.105-384. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0TYHAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=fr&pg=PA105#v=onepage&q&f=false]
Sébastien Longchamp, Anecdotes sur la vie privée de Monsieur de Voltaire, ed. Frédéric S. Eigeldinger and Raymond Trousson, Paris, Champion, 2009.
Nicholas Cronk, ‘(Ré)écrire les années de Cirey, ou du bon usage des Anecdotes de Longchamp’, in Ch. Cave and S. Davies (eds), Les Vies de Voltaire: discours et représentations biographiques, XVIIIe-XXIe siècles, SVEC 2008:04, pp.171-187.