Number of documents: 1 - Number of pages: 1 - Format: In-12
Location: Cirey (Haute-Marne)
Date: December 29 [1748]
Recipient: François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d'Arnaud (1718-1805), poet and playwright
Condition: good
Description :
Autograph letter from Voltaire to Baculard d'Arnaud, written from the Château de Cirey, residence of his friend Émilie du Châtelet.
It is unfortunately incomplete at the beginning. It was published in <i>Lettres inédites de Voltaire recueils par M. de Cayrol</i> (Paris, Didier & Cie, 1856): letter no. 183.
"While awaiting the package from Berlin, here is a little joke with which you can amuse His Prussian Majesty [Frederick II had chosen Baculard d'Arnaud as his correspondent, then had him brought to Berlin…]" Read more
Autograph letter from Voltaire to Baculard d'Arnaud, written from the Château de Cirey, residence of his friend Émilie du Châtelet.
Unfortunately, it is incomplete at the beginning. It was published in Lettres inédites de Voltaire recueils par M. de Cayrol (Paris, Didier & Cie, 1856): letter no. 183.
"While awaiting the Berlin package, here is a little amusing tidbit with which you can amuse His Prussian Majesty [Frederick II had chosen Baculard d'Arnaud as his correspondent, then brought him to Berlin where he became a member of the Berlin Academy]. Very inaccurate copies of it have circulated. You should tell me your opinion on this trifle and also give me news of Catilina [Voltaire's tragedy which would not be published until 1752]. I have not yet received any news of the English package, and I am eagerly awaiting that of the King of Prussia."
Goodbye my dear child.
At Cirey near Vassy, this 29th of December
I will be in Cirey for the entire month of January. I would be very grateful if you could write to me.
This was Voltaire's last stay in Cirey. He and Emile arrived in Cirey on December 24, 1748. Emilie was pregnant; they left for Paris on February 17. She died on September 10 after giving birth to a daughter.
