‘Sur l’abbé Desfontaines qui viola un jour un ramoneur et qui…’
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV33909
Repository:
Shelfmark:
5-240 (II, f.134), ‘[V] ‘Sur l’abbé Desfontaines qui viola un jour un ramoneur et qui…’ [De la main de Voltaire]’
Title:
‘Sur l’abbé Desfontaines qui viola un jour un ramoneur et qui…’
Collection(s):
Related record(s):
No related manuscripts found.
Link to Digital Resource:
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Reproductions:
Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Un ramoneur à face basanée
Incipit Modernised:
Un ramoneur à face basanée
Language(s):
In Voltaire’s Hand:
Yes
Brief Summary:
The manuscript is a fragment of D1514 in Voltaire’s hand. D1514 is an autograph letter from Voltaire to Nicolas Claude Thieriot, dated Thursday, 5 June [1738].
Detailed Summary:
The manuscript is a 19-line poem about the priest Desfontaine’s homosexuality, its historical impermissibility, and punitive measures. The manuscript does not replicate the entire poem, excluding the prefatory lines that read ‘L’abbe Desfontaines et le ramoneur, ou le ramoneur et l’abbé / Desfontaines, conte par feu m. de la Faye.’ According to T. D. N. Besterman, ‘despite m. de la Faye being named as the author, the poem ‘ is of course by Voltaire himself’. Furthermore; the poem is a fragment of D1514 that discusses the wedding of Marie Elisabeth Mignot, Voltaire’s younger niece, as well as an influential book by Maupertuis (perhaps La Figure de la Terre, déterminée par les Observations de Messieurs Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus, Le Monnier & de M. l’Abbé Outhier, accompagnés de M. Celsius) and the faulty edition of Eléments de Newton.
Genre(s):
Status:
Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
1 f.
Format:
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Countermark:
Binding:
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
Additional Comments:
Materiality Keywords:
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History
Date:
5 June [1738]
Ownership:
After Voltaire’s death, the MS passed into the ownership of Catherine II and remained in the imperial and then national collection thereafter.
Origin (transcript):
Origin:
Provenance:
This MS was probably taken to St Petersburg by Wagnière in the summer of 1779 along with the rest of Voltaire’s library.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Fernand Caussy, Inventaire des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Voltaire conservée à la bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg (Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1970)
OCV Reference:
89, p. 139–141
OCV Manuscript Reference:
89, ‘MS1’, p. 141
Record created by:
Record created on: