Letter from Voltaire to chevalier de Montfort, dated 21 February 1770 [D16172]
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV36753
Repository:
Shelfmark:
5-240 (VII, f.151), ‘A M. le chevalier de Montfort, officier d’artillerie à Florac, en Gévaudan, 21 février 1770 (M. 7793)’
Title:
Letter from Voltaire to chevalier de Montfort, dated 21 February 1770 [D16172]
Collection(s):
Related record(s):
No related manuscripts found.
Link to Digital Resource:
Link to Archive Catalogue:
OCLC Number:
Reproductions:
The Besterman Collection, Geneva, photocopy
Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Monsieur, Celui à qui vous avez écrit se sent très indigne des éloges que vous voulez bien lui donner; mais il est touché de vôtre mérite et du soin que vous avez pris de vous instruire.
Incipit Modernised:
Monsieur, Celui à qui vous avez écrit se sent très indigne des éloges que vous voulez bien lui donner; mais il est touché de votre mérite et du soin que vous avez pris de vous instruire.
Language(s):
In Voltaire’s Hand:
No
Brief Summary:
Letter from Voltaire to chevalier de Montfort, dated 21 February 1770.
Detailed Summary:
In this letter, Voltaire finds Calmet’s work weak, especially its poorly supported claim about Saint Peter’s journey to Rome. He dismisses several accounts of early Christian figures as dubious, arguing that ecclesiastical history has often been distorted for financial and political ends. The writer concludes that, though such errors persist, a discerning mind can remain unaffected.
Keyword(s):
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Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
1 f.
Format:
Dimensions:
Hands:
1
Watermark:
Countermark:
Binding:
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
Additional Comments:
Materiality Keywords:
Decorations:
Additions:
Wagnière headed MS1 ‘à Mr le cher de Montfort, officier d’artillerie, à Florac en Gevaudan’.
Marginalia Keywords:
Inclusions:
History
Date:
21 February 1770
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:
vol.120, p.47–48
OCV Manuscript Reference:
vol.120, ‘MS1’, p.48
Record created by:
Record created on: