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77 - André MORELLET (1727–1819). Autograph manuscript and letter …
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Estimate €700 - €800
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Description
André MORELLET (1727–1819). Autograph manuscript and letter from the author; 5 pages in-4 and 1½ pages in-8. Extract from the observations of the English merchants in Constantinople on the causes of the decline in their trade, addressed to Mr Greenville in 1765. The manuscript contains a few erasures and corrections. ‘The decline of our trade in the Levant is due to two general causes. 1. The lack of a port where English ships coming from the Levant can undergo quarantine. 2. The lack of an exclusive privilege for the company conducting this trade.’ These two points are elaborated upon by setting out the state of French and Dutch trade in the Levant, and by highlighting the advantages both enjoy over the English. In conclusion, Morellet writes: ‘I have not finished translating this passage because I found the rest of it to be very poor.’ 30 Floréal, to ‘My dear pupil’: ‘I fully understand your reasons for cutting up the memoirs I had lent you, and I find them good enough not to hold it against you, but I demand, in the name of your honesty and friendship, that you nevertheless return to me what remains, for I imagine there must be many complete pieces of which you have been unable to make any use’… He advises him not to ‘throw away the handle after the axe’ as regards a post in a sub-prefecture; he will put in a good word for him with Garnier, Duquesnoy and Dupont, who ‘rambles on sometimes’ but ‘could indeed become a great merchant, either himself or through his family’ …
See original version (French)
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part I
Auction location
Auction time 10/13/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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