Details
VOLTAIRE, Francois Marie Arouet de (1694-1778). Autograph letter signed (with initial, 'V') addressed to 'R', n.p., n.d., in Latin, Italian, and English, 7 lines on one page, 8vo. Provenance: 'Bought at Venice May 30 1833 from Count Marco Corniani E.C.' (endorsement on verso).
A teasing letter to an otherwise unidentified correspondent who has gone to Berlin, apparently on a romantic mission:
'Quae tibi tant fuit berlinum causa videndi?
Non Juno aut Pallas; sed Venus ipsa fuit'.
Voltaire asks him to send a letter to 'the Lady of Benting' (presumably Charlotte Sophia, Countess of Bentinck (1715-1800), heiress to the Count of Oldenburg). He sometimes addressed tri-lingual letters to his friends, including Count Algarotti. The letter is not in the Correspondance (ed. T. Besterman) where another letter to 'R', on literary matters, is given, dated 20 June 1738 (D.1526). He may have been a M. Roch, or Rocques, or Rousset de Missy.
A teasing letter to an otherwise unidentified correspondent who has gone to Berlin, apparently on a romantic mission:
'Quae tibi tant fuit berlinum causa videndi?
Non Juno aut Pallas; sed Venus ipsa fuit'.
Voltaire asks him to send a letter to 'the Lady of Benting' (presumably Charlotte Sophia, Countess of Bentinck (1715-1800), heiress to the Count of Oldenburg). He sometimes addressed tri-lingual letters to his friends, including Count Algarotti. The letter is not in the Correspondance (ed. T. Besterman) where another letter to 'R', on literary matters, is given, dated 20 June 1738 (D.1526). He may have been a M. Roch, or Rocques, or Rousset de Missy.
Special notice
This lot will be subject to VAT at the rate of 17.5% on the buyer's premium