Autograph draft of a letter : place not specified, to Frederick the Great, "Commencement de 1740" [i.e., 1740 May 1].

Record ID: 
308816
Accession number: 
MA 986.23
Author: 
Voltaire, 1694-1778.
Credit: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan Jr., 1923.
Description: 
1 item (4 p.) ; 23 cm
Notes: 

A retained draft.
Corrected dating from Besterman.
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.

Summary: 

Praising his French verses and his ability to write them under difficult circumstances; sending him verses; comparing him to Boileau; discussing European politics, particularly Sweden.

Provenance: 
Charavay sale (Paris, 17 April 1880), p. 11, in no. 28; Morrison collection; Sotheby's (London, 19 April 1918), p. 289, in no. 1768; purcahsed by J.P. Morgan Jr. from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co. in 1923.