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an old book with writing on it and a line drawn in the middlean old manuscript with writing on it in black ink
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496 - Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES.
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Estimate €1,200 - €1,500
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Description
Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES. Autograph manuscript, [c. 1780?]; 21 pages in-4 (plus a few blank pages), bound in marbled paper. Concerning the Académie Française and his grandfather’s refusal to join it, Chrétien-François I de Lamoignon de Basville (1644–1709). Drafts containing numerous crossings-out and corrections, and certain passages struck through with two crossed lines, from a long letter or a memorandum probably intended for d’Alembert, in connection with his *History of the Members of the Académie Française from 1700 to 1771, to serve as a sequel to the Eulogies printed and read at the public sessions of that body* (1785). Malesherbes begins as follows: ‘You have requested, Sir, that I share with you the facts I have been able to gather regarding my grandfather’s refusal of a seat at the Académie Française. It seems to you that this anecdote merits clarification’: and he recalls that Duclos had read out in a public session of the Academy “the accounts of a secret intrigue that gave rise to this refusal, and you believe that, having today the honour of belonging to the Academy, I am obliged to investigate this matter”.He went through his grandfather’s papers and found several letters ‘written to him by various people at the time of the election and the refusal. I also found there the draft, written and corrected in his own hand, of a letter he wrote at that time on this subject’… Malesherbes had always heard his father say that ‘Mr de B. had no desire to be a member of the Academy and that he had never wavered on this point. […] I must confess, Sir, that I am not particularly surprised by Mr de B.’s lack of desire to be admitted to the Academy, or even by the fear he may have felt at the prospect of receiving this honour. To understand this, one must go back to a time when public opinion regarding such positions was not quite the same as it is today. You know how much opinions change in just a few years. Today, the Academy often admits members of the court, military officers, magistrates and prelates who have made no name for themselves through any literary works’… He outlines the role played by François de Tourreil, who made ‘such great efforts to bring into the Academy a man who did not wish to be a member’. Basville ‘might have believed at first that his refusal would be regarded merely as an act of modesty, but when he saw that the reaction was quite different and that more than one Academician took offence, he had no choice but to set aside his reluctance’… According to Duclos, ‘the Academy was divided over the choice it had to make; some were in favour of the Abbé de Chaulieu, whilst others were firmly in favour of Verdurre [?]. The Abbé de Chaulieu’s faction proved to be the stronger; the opposing faction devised a plan to enlist the help of M. de B., who counted among his friends the most zealous supporters of the Abbé de Chaulieu, in order to deprive him of their votes. I hope, Sir, out of my devotion to the Academy, that this is the only occasion on which such means have been employed. Be that as it may, we can now see where the passion that M. de Tourreil displayed in this matter came from’… Etc.
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
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Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
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