Photo 1/1 du lot
Rossini

352 - FEUILLET DE CONCHES, Félix-Sébastien (1798-1887), diplomat a…
See original version (French)

Estimate €200 - €300
Sale commission
Description
FEUILLET DE CONCHES, Félix-Sébastien (1798-1887), diplomat and great French collector. He was also a brilliant forger of rare letters and manuscripts: he created forgeries and inserted them as replacements for certain documents in collections or archives lent to him for his work, thus stealing the originals, and also created forged autographs in order to exchange them with other collectors. His main specialities were Racine, Boileau, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and La Fontaine. Set of 10 documents: 9 L.A.S. and 1 L.S., some addressed to Armand Baschet (1829-1886). 1852 to 1871 and n.d. Approx. 24 pp. folio, in-4 or in-8. Feuillet de Conches looks back over his career at the Affaires étrangères and the internal struggles relating to the archives, in particular the preservation of the Mémoires de Saint-Simon; their move after the death of Louis XVIII to the Hôtel d'Etchegoyen (and not to the Hôtel de Wagram, which was unsuitable for them) and recounts a number of anecdotes: the removal of a "Boucher door top" that the archive custodian, M. Cintrat, "had transported into the archives". Cintrat, "had it transported to his salon"; the arrival of Mignet; the academician Jean-Louis Bergeret, friend of Racine, Boileau and Colbert; Venice (Baschet's speciality); the Gospels of Saint Mark; the papers of the Count of Esterhazy; a heated argument caused by quibbling over the price of a jewel; he transcribed a scene from the end of Jérôme Bonaparte supported by "the young Princess Bonaparte" supporting him; etc. To Fougère. L.A.S. S.l.n.d. "Here is a new notebook that I found and bought yesterday. It is in Malebranche's hand [...]. Notice the C's, the h's, the double p's. Notice also the way in which the r's, in the middle of words, curl up with the letters that deprive them. But is it by him? Or a copy of Descartes [or a copy of Feuillet de Conches!] I remember reading, some ten years ago, the Méditations métaphysiques [...]. You will find at the bottom [...] an absurd (pardon the word) thought on the soul of beasts. It smacks of Descartes [...].
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Classic furniture and objets d'art
Auction location
Auction time 06/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like