Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Autograph draft of a letter : "Cirei," to Frederick the Great, 1738 Mar. 8.

BIB_ID
308631
Accession number
MA 986.8
Creator
Voltaire, 1694-1778.
Display Date
1738 Mar. 8.
Credit line
Purchased by J.P. Morgan Jr., 1923.
Description
1 item (12 p.) ; 21.9 cm
Notes
A retained draft, headed "Au Pce royal de prusse." Also headed "17e."
Part of a large collection of letters from Voltaire to Frederick the Great. Letters have been cataloged individually; see collection-level record for more information.
Voltaire lived at the Château de Cirey, the home of Gabrielle Emilie de Breteuil, Marquise du Chatelet, from 1734-1749.
Provenance
Purchased by J.P. Morgan Jr. from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. in 1923.
Summary
Telling him about his illness and that of [Graf Hermann Karl von] Keyserling[k]; sending his third epistle on happiness [the third Discours sur l'homme] whose subject is envy; comparing the exchange of verses between Frederick and Voltaire to Hesiod's description of the relationship between the earth and the sky; telling him about his wish to write a tragedy [Mérope]; saying that French theater is too gallant; discussing, at great length, metaphysics, the freedom of man and God.