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Rossini

342 - ANCIEN RÉGIME - CONSTANTINOPLE. Unsigned autograph letter. C…
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Estimate €100 - €200
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Description
ANCIEN RÉGIME - CONSTANTINOPLE. Unsigned autograph letter. Constantinople, 20 January 1747. 7 pp. in-4. A very amusing and curious letter. The writer, who has not signed the letter, relates a number of sulphurous, saucy or amusing anecdotes to entertain his correspondent. In particular, he tells a delightful anecdote about M. de Campistron, secretary to the Duc de Vendôme, who had recently acquired a marquisate in Italy "je ne sçay comment. The title was the Marquisate of Patropo. One day when he was absent, and M. de Vendôme had to write to him, Magnany, his other secretary [...] said M. de Vendôme: we will fall out with Capistron if we do not put Marquis on the letter; give, said M. de Vendôme; I will put the address myself; he took up his pen, and wrote in his white hand 'a M. Capistron pas-trop marquis'. This remark drew so many jokes from Capsitron that he left the service of the Duc de Vendôme for a time. [Victor Hugo would have loved to read this anecdote: he who so despised the work and the man who was the playwright and academician Jean Galbert de Campistron (1656-1723). Hugo felt that Campistron was plagiarising Racine. He had this murderous phrase to say about him: "On the dead Racine, Campistron swarms"]. The author also tells stories about the Comte de Bonneval, the Comte de Tessa, the Chevalier de Simiane (drunk, spurned by a lady), the Pope and Cardinal Aquaviva, as well as an anecdote about Clément XI (scatophilic anecdotes), and so on. He then moved on to more serious subjects, including the affairs of Constantinople, the King of Persia Thamas Kouli Kan, etc.
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About the sale Classic furniture and objets d'art
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Auction time 06/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
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