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219 - Letter attributed to Joseph Nicéphore NIEPCE : Au Gras 30 Db…
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Estimate €5,000 - €10,000
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Description
Letter attributed to Joseph Nicéphore NIEPCE : Au Gras 30 Dbre 1821 My dear cousin, The day after tomorrow, 1st January, is the due date for the interest we owe Miss Catherine (...) on the note for 2,000 francs that I subscribed last year for her benefit; allow me to take advantage of your address to send her the said interest amounting to the sum of one hundred francs, which I am sending her by the stagecoach office, and which she will receive postage paid next Tuesday at the latest. She will also receive the interest on our 1,200 franc note on a fixed date, 1 February; I would ask you, dear cousin, to acknowledge receipt of this letter. The machine my brother is working on is a lot more work than he thought in principle. It is well advanced, but not yet finished; what I now know positively about its nature is that it is not an application of the laws of hydraulics, which is preferable in any case, especially for (mobile?) machines. Here, in a few words, is what he wrote to me in his last letter of 21 December: "The new (sulphur?) you sent me arrived just in time, and will be sufficient to wait at least 2 months. I hope that this expenditure will earn us a good income. I acquired the mathematical demonstration a long time ago; so thank God, we can await the result with confidence and perseverance; we will see that my discovery conforms to the laws of Mechanics, and that consequently it was not a pipe dream. When you write to our dear cousins in (...?), don't forget to say the most affectionate things on my behalf. How eager we should be to see the just and flattering hopes he has conceived fulfilled, since they would put us in a position to pay you back in fine, My dear Cousin, and to express to you, as we wish, all our gratitude! I hope that our wishes will be fulfilled, and I hope so more than ever. Please accept, from all of us, and especially in the New Year, the assurance of our most sincere wishes, and of the tender feelings that we have pledged to each other for life. Please be our faithful interpreter with our dear Cousin, and do not forget us with Mon Cousin (?) and dear Antoinette. J. N. Niépce P.S. I would be grateful if you could send your reply directly to me, and not through Mr Terrier. Dear Mr Terrier Mr de Furly, tax collector in Autun in Autun Côte-d'Or (Probably a postmark from Chalon-sur-Saône) Format approximately 21 x 16 cm. As is. N.B. Jean-Marie PRADES: In this letter dated 30th September 1821, Niépce writes to his cousin De Curley. The main subject of this letter is the payment of interest on a loan. It also contains information about the Pyreolophore, which his brother Claude was working on, and the difficulties he was encountering ("Autour d'une collection 2" Collection JMP Club Niépce Lumière, p. 9). In 1807, the inventors Nicéphore and his brother Claude Niépce patented the "Explosion Engine". Nicephore also devoted himself to renovating the hydraulic machine at Marly. In 1816, he developed his first "Heliographic" research and also that of the Pyreolophore. At the same time, his brother left for England to sell their engine and continue his own work. The two brothers corresponded regularly for around ten years. Expert Isabelle Cazeils. Provenance: Jean-Marie PRADES Collection. Letter attributed to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce: Au Gras, December 30, 1821.
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About the sale Part One: History of photography, the collection of a lifetime
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Auction time 06/08/2026 at 9:30 AM
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