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an old manuscript with a black ink writing on it
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379 - Xavier de MAISTRE (1763–1852). Autograph letter, Naples, 10 …
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Estimate €400 - €500
Sale commission
Description
Xavier de MAISTRE (1763–1852). Autograph letter, Naples, 10 June 1832, to the Countess of Seyssel (née de la Marmora), in Turin; 3 pages in-4, address side with black wax seal (broken) and postmarks (small tear caused by the seal breaking). Disappointed by the house he had rented in Castellamare, he eventually took up residence with the Marcellus family at the Esterazy house on the Chiaia. The Countess’s letter reminds him of the happy times spent in Rome and rouses him from ‘the apathy in which I have been living for so long […] time has laid its cold hand upon my imagination; most of my correspondence has gradually come to an end, the rest are languishing; it seems to me that everything is fading away around me’… He asks the Countess to thank Mr d’Azeglio ‘for everything his good friend the Maestro di scuola [Cesar Balbo] says in favour of *Le Lépreux* [*The Leper of Aosta*], which makes me praise his translation; I read it from cover to cover, believing I was reading it in French’ and thus rediscovered his book, ‘something that had not happened to me for over 20 years’. He takes issue with only two words ‘which do not render the original exactly’. He regrets not being able to spend the summer in a delightful countryside as he had hoped, and laments not being able to send an autograph letter from his brother [Joseph, who died in 1821], as he had burnt ‘in bulk’ family letters, something he now regrets… Enclosed is an autograph letter from his wife Sophie de Maistre to the Countess, describing Naples and its surroundings (4 pp., small quarto). Formerly in the collection of Maurizio Seyssel of Aix.
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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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