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364 - Alphonse de LAMARTINE. Letter from the author, Florence, 22 …
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Estimate €500 - €700
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Description
Alphonse de LAMARTINE. Letter from the author, Florence, 22 December 1827, to the Marquise de Montcalm; 4 pages, in-4. After offering his best wishes, he expresses concern about the political situation: ‘The political upheaval we have long foreseen has become more complicated and is gathering pace. What hand will halt or resolve it? We are in the dark here, and I believe you are in the same position as us: the secret of fate lies in the ballot box! […] The situation is grave, as Bonaparte said: and I do not see how the difficulties of our political state can be resolved by a single measure or in a single session: this fateful appointment of peers complicates everything.” He refers to the death of Auguste de Staël (Madame de Staël’s eldest son), ‘one of the most estimable and upright men’… Then he turns to Greece: ‘Here we concern ourselves only with Greece and the battles of Navarino and Chios. […] Moreover, and above all, we concern ourselves with music and balls; it is a life even more hollow than that of Paris’… He will leave his post following the arrival of M. de Vitrolles: ‘I do not know what will become of me afterwards; I find that things move very slowly in diplomacy, and I feel too old for my profession and for my rather minor rank. All in all, I am in a bad mood, sad and disillusioned, just as you sometimes are; if I were alone, I would leave it all behind and set off on a journey lasting several years to the East, but I have chained myself with a thousand ties of propriety, affection, vanity and family obligations, which still hold me fast under the yoke of a dull ambition. I no longer write poetry; my time is entirely taken up by business and the vast social circle one is forced to maintain here for eight months of the year. The country, for the rest, still pleases me; I have recently bought a lovely little palace here—which means, at most, a house with fields and gardens all around it, yet still within the town; I am enjoying decorating and furnishing it, and I could put you up there quite comfortably should you ever decide to come and spend a winter in the sun’…
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
Auction location
Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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