MANUSCRITS

105 items of correspondence, in French, in various formats (mainly 8vo). In good condition on lightly-aged paper. Each text clear and complete. The whole contained in a grey paper folder with 'Juillet 1818' on the front wrap. Each item unobtrusively numbered in neat red pencil. Featuring a wide range of the correspondents, as few write more than once. Occasional letters docketed. Accompanied by a modern abstract by a French-speaker, reflecting the difficulty of the various hands contained in the collection.

Lamartine's letter, of 1p., 12mo, on a blank page on the reverse of the prospectus, which is 2pp., 8vo, on a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter is addressed to an unnamed individual ('Monsieur'), and consists of twenty lines of text. He has been encouraged by 'Les rapports de bienveillance intellectuelle', he is sending the prospectus for his selected works, which he has himself revised, augmented, annotated and edited.

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed by Bonaparte, with stamp, red wax seal and postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Monsieur le Lieutenant-Colonel Lherbette Adt. au comm. de l'artillerie dans la 1re. division militaire | Vincennes'. Were he not leaving for the country, he would have presented in person 'Mr. Colt, citoyen des Etats-Unis, inventeur d'un ingénieux système d'armes à feu à plusieurs coups'.

8vo, 4 pp. Seventy lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with the outer pages browned. The identity of the recipient is suggested by the following, written in the margin of the first page: 'Ces Dames vous supplient d'agréer l'hommage de leurs souvenirs. Mesdames de Vaublanc et veulent elles me permettre de leur offrir ici la mienne?' His correspondent is writing his memoirs, and de Marchangy considers that he has 'mille fois raison de vivre dans le passé, s'il vous console du present'.

Folio, 4 pp. Both on the same bifolium. All texts clear. On aged and worn paper, with chipping and fraying to extremities. Presumably part of a series of ongoing receipts, as the the first begins in the middle of the preamble '<...> commandement de Monsieur le Marquis de Roye Lieutenant general, | De la somme de deux cent cinquante neuf livres onze sols huit deniers [...]'. The receipts are neatly written out, with two long authorisations in the margins, each bearing the same illegible signature.

Folio, 2 pp. 31 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, chipped at extremities. The elaborate letterhead features a circular engraving by Heuer of two classical female figures in front of a press.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Neatly and closely written. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Evaluations of the conduct of more than thirty families, from a staunchly Bourbon point of view. First entry: 'Lorraine. Des sentiments trés pur. Ils quitterent ce Pais et furent trouver l'Empereur, qui les Emploie dans ses Armées.' Some families come in for criticism: 'Bethune. Cette maison si illustre s'est couverte d'ignomenie, un seul Bethune d'Artois a Emigrée.' Longest entry (twenty lines) on the Durfort Boissier family.

12mo, 8 pp. Fair, on aged laid paper. On four leaves removed from a pocket book, with two leaves numbered in manuscript '41' and '42'. Apparently a first-person draft of information for an appeal by the oldest surviving member (from the inception of the group) for a stipend. Begins 'Depuis le commencement de l'an 1760 que j'ai ete recu a la Musique du Roi, j'ai été en exercice jusqu'en 1792, avec 222. sujets qui s'y sous dont 40 vivant encore au 18 Janvier 1815. [...]'.

9 x 14 cm. Backed on piece of card, and hence with the details of the addressees obscured. Fair, on aged paper with central vertical crease. Sending 'Compliments au père et à la mère. Bon veux pour le nouveau né!' Written while waiting for trial, following Déroulède's re-arrest for treason. He was found guilty and banished for ten years. His funeral procession in Paris attracted a larger crowd than any since Victor Hugo.

8vo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a difficult hand. Apparently relating to a proposed meeting and dinner for 'tous les trois' (including ''). It is curiously difficult to discover anything, either about Würtz or about the Commission.

On rectangle of paper roughly 9 x 17 cm. Cut from the head of a letter for an autograph hunter. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on the reverse. Above the signature a florid five-line valediction in the best courtly style. Date and beginning of letter on reverse.

12mo, 1 p. 20 lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Writing to ask how the recipient wishes to deal with 'traités de Botanique et de Chimie' in his reviews. Written during the first of several incarnations of the 'Revue', this one beginning around 1836.

Paper: 4to, 6 pp. With addendum slip of a third of a page. Text clear and complete. On aged paper and lightly-creased paper. Closely written, with several deletions. This paper held some significance for Bouthors. The 'Bulletins de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie' (1864) quotes an address by him, in which he describes that society as 'la fille de l'association des Congrès scientifiques de France.

One page, on the recto of the second leaf of a bifolium, leaf dimensions 31 x 20 cm. In fair condition on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to extremities. According to his entry in the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Charles was a 'Géographe attaché au Dépôt général de la guerre en 1933 [sic], ancien membre de la Société de Géographie. - Dessinateur, il eut une production cartographique très abondante à partir de 1823'. Neatly laid out.

12mo, 1 p. Ten lines of text. Good, on aged paper with slight wear to extremities. In a bifolium, with address and four circular postmarks (two in black and two in blue ink) on verso of second leaf. He is 'a la fin de l'impression d'un ouvrage qui doit être pret pour la rentrée et qui depuis longtemps absorbe tous mes instants'. It is impossible for him to write the requested articles. He is 'tellement fatigué' that he awaits with impatience the end of the printing, so that he can take 'un peu de repos'.

4to: 1 p. Twenty-four lines of text. On a bifolium of laid paper, and docketed on the reverse of the second leaf. Good, in faded ink on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'La france republicainne [sic] me fait perdre des renttes [sic] viageres'. She complains of the attack on her 'legitimes droits a mes biens de Corses que le roy de france garrante par un Contract', and speaks of 'droits inalterables et inprescriptible'. She asks for a 'paquet' to be passed to 'Milord Hood'.

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, dimensions roughly 65 x 41.5 cm. Within a ruled border. On lightly aged paper, with chipping and slight loss to extremities. Three closed tears (two of them affecting the portrait) have been repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Text entirely legible and portrait clear, bright and without loss. The full-length portrait (31 x 25 cm), crudely coloured in yellow, red and blue, depicts the Emperor, in full regalia, standing in a sumptuous throne room. Sixty-six line biography, arranged in two columns.

4to (27 x 21 cm), 1 p. Nine lines of text. Text clear and complete on lightly aged, creased and foxed paper. Small closed tear at edge along crease line (not affecting text). Bearing the numbered stamp of the Exposition Universelle de 1867, Commission Imperiale. Accepting the position, conferred on him by the Commission, of 'membre de Jury de l'Exposition dans la 55me. classe': 'J'accepte cette tâche de confiance, et ferai tous mes éfforts pour la remplir avec l'activité reclamée par le reglement concernant les travaux du Jury'.

4to, 1 p. Fourteen lines of text, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete, on lightly aged and creased paper. Slight staining at foot of text (affecting part of signature), and on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, which is docketed 'la renaudié | A. S.' He is sending an article on 'la Bibliotheque des voyages'. Asks that the article on the work entitled 'Des Beaux arts en Angleterre', 'que Buisson vous adressa il ya prés de Deux mois', be inserted. 'Je vous prie en grace de laisser ma Signature en entier.

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged paper. Asking Pingard, as Secretary of the Institut de France, to convene a meeting of the members of the 'Section de Géographie et Navigation'. Postscript: 'P.S. Je suis, connais vous, près <?> une Jambe.'

4to: 2 pp. 35 lines of text. Good, on aged paper. Text clear and entire. Minor damage to one corner (not affecting text) through breaking open of wafer. He has received the letter with the 'observations de milord', whose 'propositions' are not 'acceptables'. Mentions a 'Mr. Tournal'. How could he offer 'Mr. Gerrard' 'les quatre cent quarante francs proposé par milord et meme les six cent francs fixé par vous?' Mentions Madame la Marquise de Sainte-Aulaire. Suggests a sum which would be acceptable to Gerrard and would thus avoid a trial the success of which would be uncertain.

16mo (13.5 x 10 cm): 2 pp. A bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf. The first leaf has been slightly trimmed at the bottom, resulting in some loss to the bottom line of the recto. A formal letter in the third person, written in a close, difficult hand. Carefully detailing the missing sections in his copy of the 'Dictionnaire Anamitique-Latin'.

16mo: 1 p. 14 lines of text. Close hand. He is touched that Sainte-Beuve has found time, in the midst of his labours, to write a letter expressing his 'adhésion'. 'Je suis heureux de penser, en vous écrivant rue Montparnasse [Sainte-Beuve lived at no. 11], que la philosophie et l'esprit d'indépendence ont toujours un ami dans la maison de Sainte-Beuve'.

12mo: 2 pp. Very good on lightly aged paper. Asks if it might be possible, as previously, to forward a packet to 'Mr. d'Abbadie': 'depuis deux ans je suis sans nouvelles de lui'. It is six months since he had the honour of forwarding a similar packet via the French legation at Lisbon. Good firm signature, but with the words '(Le comte de Montalembert)' in another hand beneath it, and interfering with the flourish (paraph).

All three letters 12mo. The letter to Jalabert (with a mourning border) is 2 pp, the others 1 p each. All three in good condition. The Jalabert letter (18 lines) mentions his wife and 'M. Goupil'. The Duvivier letter (6 lines) is a letter of introduction to a 'Monsieur Pietsch, artiste distingue de Berlin'. Asks him to give the artist 'toutes les facilités pour visiter l'Hémicycle de Delaroche et la galérie des Plâtres'. The letter to the woman (11 lines). His return has been delayed by the death of the King of Portugal.

12mo, 1 p. Eighteen lines of text. Good, on aged paper. Address, with broken wafer and two circular postmarks (one in red ink and the other in black) on verso of second leaf of bifolium. Making an order for a periodical publication, and giving instructions for delivery and payment.

8vo, 2 pp. Twenty-two lines of text. Bifolium. Address, postmark and seal on reverse of otherwise-blank second leaf of bifolium. On aged and lightly creased paper, chipped and foxed. Text clear and entire. Acting on Falconet's advice, the Count has sent 'une Procure en regle à Mr Recamier [husband of the celebrated Madame Récamier?] à fin qu'il puisse retirer l'argenterie des mains de Mr Delamarre à l'expiration des trois mois'. He is grateful for Falconet's assistance in terminating 'cette facheuse affaire'.

Foolscap (roughly 31.5 x 20 cm): 2 pp. Bifolium with blank second leaf. Thirty-one lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper, with some discoloration and chipping in a thin strip at head (roughly 1.5 cm deep), affecting the date and letterhead but not the text. Text clear and entire. Casting interesting light on early nineteenth-century news management by the authorities in the continental Europe. The letter concerns the coronation of Charles X.

12mo, 3 pp. Forty-four lines of text. Difficult hand. Concerns the printing of one of de Rienzi's works by Huot, to whom de Rienzi will transmit all the printed leaves which have not been published. De Rienzi's works have him fighting at Wagram and Waterloo, for the Greeks in 1818 and 1822, with Bolivar in 1819, with the Carbonari in 1821, and under Mehemet Ali in 1823. After 1830 he was a professor of Geography in Paris. He committed suicide.

4to: 3 pp. Bifolium. Good on lightly aged and creased paper. Text clear and entire. Eighty lines of text, beginning abruptly, without salutation, 'Vous m'avez demandé ma pensée sur le prospectus que vous avez proposé.