Letter from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, written from Ferney and dated 1 February 1773 [D18170]
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV36686
Repository:
Shelfmark:
5-240 (VII, f.36-7), ‘1er février 1773, à Ferney, au roi de Prusse (M. 8747)’
Title:
Letter from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, written from Ferney and dated 1 February 1773 [D18170]
Collection(s):
Link to Archive Catalogue:
Link to Digital Resource:
OCLC Number:
Reproductions:
Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Sire, Je vous ai remercié de vôtre porcelaine; Le Roi mon maître n’en a pas de plus belle; aussi ne m’en a t-il point envoié.
Incipit Modernised:
Seigneur, Je vous ai remercié de votre porcelaine; Le Roi mon maître n’en a pas de plus belle; aussi ne m’en a t-il point envoyé.
Language(s):
In Voltaire’s Hand:
No
Brief Summary:
Letter from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, written from château de Ferney and dated 1 February 1773.
Detailed Summary:
The manuscript is a lettre en vers consisting of a poem in four stanzas. Voltaire begins by expressing his gratitude for the fine china previously gifted to him and for the compliments regarding his age. The letter continues with a poem that challenges the correspondent’s negative assessment of Parisian cultural and literary life, highlighting current literary ambitions, achievements in scholarship and criticism, and the fine arts. In the latter part of the letter, Voltaire discusses Pugachev’s Rebellion, his tragedy Les Lois de Minos—which he will send to his correspondent—and the marriage of Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy.
Status:
Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
2 ff.
Format:
Dimensions:
Hands:
2
Watermark:
Countermark:
Binding:
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
Additional Comments:
Materiality Keywords:
Decorations:
Additions:
The MS is a copy of original document: transcription, with a few autograph additions.
Marginalia Keywords:
Inclusions:
History
Date:
1 February 1773
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:
123, p. 214–217
OCV Manuscript Reference:
123, p. 274
Record created by:
Record created on: