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21 - Joseph-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de CONDORCET (1741–1…
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Estimate 800 € - 1 000 €
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Description
Joseph-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de CONDORCET (1741–1794), mathematician, philosopher and economist; a member of the Legislative Assembly and a delegate to the National Convention (representing the Aisne), he was arrested as a Girondin and took his own life by poisoning. L.A., [La Roche-Guyon, September 1777, to Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot]; 1 page, quarto (water-stained). Regarding the eulogy for the Duke of La Vrillière, which Condorcet refused to deliver [he had replied to Maurepas, the Duke’s son-in-law, that he would never praise such a minister; furious, Maurepas prevented, for as long as he lived, Condorcet’s election to the Académie française.] He is about to write to d’Alembert. ‘It is certain that I would risk more by delivering the eulogy [for the Duke of La Vrillière], and that I would risk being persecuted for a folly rather than for a reasonable act. I have not written the eulogy in full, but I have organised it in my mind [...] The eulogy of Mr Trudaine would be another way of displeasing Mr de Maurepas. [...] I do not know to what extent I need fear exclusion from the Académie Française, but it is certain that the eulogies of Monsieur de La Vrillière and Monsieur Trudaine, as I would have written them, would have provided ammunition against me. Besides, I regard the fact that Mr de La Vrillière has not been praised as a battle won’... Condorcet then speaks of Necker: ‘I fear that this Necker will starve us to death by seeking to advance his plans without upheaval. It is a sad state of affairs that twenty million people should be tossed about between madmen, fools and scoundrels’... Works of Condorcet, ed. Arago and O’Connor, vol. I, p. 270. – Unpublished Correspondence between Condorcet and Turgot (1883), CXXXI.
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part I
Auction location
Auction time 13/10/2026 à 14h00
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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