Details
HUMBOLDT, Alexander von (1769-1859). Autograph letter signed ('Humboldt') TO JULIETTE RéCAMIER, Arceuil, n.d. ['Vendredi matin'], in French, 2 pages, oblong 4to.
A graceful and amusing excuse for declining an invitation, referring to his South American travels: 'Je vous l'avois deja dit, Madame, De tous les gens de l'Orinoque je suis, si non le plus sauvage, du moins le plus maladroit. Refuser une invitation à Madame Recamier, résister à une lettre pleine de bonté, d'indulgence ... cela n'a de nom que dans la langue de l'Incas', explaining that he has accepted an engagement with Princess Sapicka, 'qui est très Polonoise, pas belle et qui cependant vous ressemble parcequ'elle est simple, interieure, sensible ...', but hoping to pass by in the course of the evening. A postscript excuses his scrawled handwriting: he has the writer's malady of a sore arm.
A graceful and amusing excuse for declining an invitation, referring to his South American travels: 'Je vous l'avois deja dit, Madame, De tous les gens de l'Orinoque je suis, si non le plus sauvage, du moins le plus maladroit. Refuser une invitation à Madame Recamier, résister à une lettre pleine de bonté, d'indulgence ... cela n'a de nom que dans la langue de l'Incas', explaining that he has accepted an engagement with Princess Sapicka, 'qui est très Polonoise, pas belle et qui cependant vous ressemble parcequ'elle est simple, interieure, sensible ...', but hoping to pass by in the course of the evening. A postscript excuses his scrawled handwriting: he has the writer's malady of a sore arm.
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