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an old open book with writing on it sitting on top of a table
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494 - Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES (1721–1794), …
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Estimate €1,200 - €1,500
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Description
Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES (1721–1794), magistrate and minister. Autograph manuscripts of poems; 60 pages, in-4 and small in-4, in a single volume bound in a modern marbled-paper cardboard binding. Poetic essays by Malesherbes on ancient history. A first section comprising 7 folios (13 pages) is a copy of ‘Technical verses on the history of the Roman emperors, the first by Father Buffier, and continued by others’, beginning with Tiberius: ‘Is Tiberius the first concealed tyrant’… [The Jesuit and educator Claude Buffier (1661–1737) developed and published A Practical Guide to Artificial Memory for Easily Learning and Retaining Chronology and Universal History (1705–1706), notably through the use of alexandrines. His ‘Verses on World History from Jesus Christ to the Present Day’ begin with the history of the Roman emperors; this section of his work relating to the Roman emperors—a rather succinct account—was expanded upon and supplemented by other authors.] A second part comprises 14 folios (27 pages). In it, Malesherbes himself writes—sometimes with numerous crossings-out and corrections—a continuation of Buffier’s verses, beginning with the massacre of Julius Constantius, Emperor Constantine’s half-brother, and his family in 337: ‘But no sooner was he dead than his guilty sons / Caused the death of his relatives and all his favourites. […] The soldier slaughtered them, and nothing was spared / Save two frail children, Gallus and Julian’… The final pages are in draft form, covered in corrections. A final set of 10 folios (20 pages), of a smaller format, is entitled: ‘Technical verses on the history of the Roman Empire’, beginning with Tiberius, ‘the disguised tyrant’, and bears the following note at the start: ‘The verses on this first page are those of Father Buffier that I had retained. I have forgotten the others. This is what prompted me to continue them up to Constantine, following Father Buffier’s prosody. And since then I have fancied continuing them […] up to the destruction of the Western Empire and, in the East, up to the Hegira”. This continuation ends as follows: ‘At last, Byzantium falls to the Sultans / In the year fifty-three after fourteen hundred’; the collection concludes with a draft page.
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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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