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a handwritten letter written in black ink on a piece of paper
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370 - Alphonse de LAMARTINE. Autograph letter, Aix-en-Savoie, 23 J…
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Estimate €500 - €700
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Description
Alphonse de LAMARTINE. Autograph letter, Aix-en-Savoie, 23 July [1830, to the Marquise de Montcalm]; 4 pages, in-4. He received her letter as ‘a stroke of good fortune […] like fine wine after flat wines. So fear neither the frequency nor the scrawling; I can decipher your hand in the blink of an eye, just as I was able, in a single visit, to decipher and come to love your person and your character’. He is about to set off for the Saint-Bernard Pass, Chamonix, the Aosta Valley, the Italian lakes and perhaps Turin. ‘Despite the uncertainty of your political situation, it will inevitably have to be resolved, and I cannot see how this can happen without a degree of violence. Things have reached a point where anything could happen, so weary are we, so fearful of a revolutionary relapse; I have always said: 8 August [1829, appointment of the ultra-conservative Polignac ministry] was a revolution in its own right. May God grant that it does not provoke another!’ After mentioning Delphine Gay, he confesses: ‘I am not a poet when and as I would like to be. I need a feeling that is truly strong and infinite, such as love or piety or admiration for nature. I shall keep silent for 10 or 12 years, and then you shall have my Poem, if God grants me the strength to write it as he has granted me the inspiration to conceive it. But! Alas, I can clearly see prose standing between the poem and me, not to mention a revolution! And my wretched health! As for inspiration, I have never felt it more strongly, but I am holding it back and saving it for my *Aeneid*’. Finally, he speaks of his life in Aix: “We spend our days boating on a beautiful lake, our evenings at the ball, and our mornings swimming. A life of pleasure-seekers! […] We forget that we are ten leagues from France, ten days’ journey from a coup d’état”…
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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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