BIB_ID
207838
Accession number
MA 638.86
Display Date
undated.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Description
1 item (3 p.) ; 22.2 cm
Notes
This item is part of a collection of Voltaire letters and manuscripts; see main record (MA 638) for a description of the collection as well as individual records for other items in the collection.
This letter, though signed "Voltaire" and endorsed "De Voltaire," is not in Voltaire's hand or that of his secretary, Jean Louis Wagnière. Besterman et al. originally dated it to 1738, but subsequent editions of Voltaire's correspondence have omitted this letter. It is likely a forgery.
This letter, though signed "Voltaire" and endorsed "De Voltaire," is not in Voltaire's hand or that of his secretary, Jean Louis Wagnière. Besterman et al. originally dated it to 1738, but subsequent editions of Voltaire's correspondence have omitted this letter. It is likely a forgery.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co., 1900.
Summary
Refusing to comment on the recipient's judgment that de La Motte's Oedipus was superior to Voltaire's; discussing [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau.
Catalog link
Department