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Verdi, Giuseppe., Italian composer (1813-1901).
Autograph letter signed. Genoa, 8. IV. 1871.
8vo. 2¼ pp. on bifolium. Written in ink. To Count Opprandino Arrivabene (1807-87), writing in the aftermath of "La semaine sanglante" which marked the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871. Arrivabene was Verdi's close friend, and appears to have been in Paris for the events of Spring 1871 while Verdi was in Florence; the tone of the letter is nonetheless light to start. He wishes his friend a good Easter, and hopes to confess the acts of impatience committed while Verdi was in Florence ("Buona Pasqua; e vatti a confessare almeno tutte gli atti d'impazienza commesi nel tempo che io sono a Firenze"). Verdi exclaims, "io peccato abbastanza? Povero arrivabene!", and explains that "Mazzucato è stato qui ieri, e abbiamo lavorato ancora al Regolamento." Mazzucato was likely Alberto Mazzucato (1813-77), who had retired from composition after his last opera, "Hernani", but who evidently remained involved with fellow composers of his day. - Business having been discussed, Verdi turns to the news of the Paris Commune: Why did Arrivabene not say anything about France? It could have been much worse! "Ben peggio del 93! Allora si trattava d'acquistare e rassodare una libertà che non avevano ancora avuto; en non avevano sofferto tanti desastri, nè avevano un nemico in casa!". One day, Verdi tells his friend, one will not be able to believe such infamy ("questa nefandità"). - Gently creased at folds; ink has faintly bled through. Date of letter pencilled onto blank final page in modern hand.
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Verdi, Giuseppe, Italian composer (1813-1901).
Autograph letter signed. Sant'Agata in Villanova sull'Arda, 28. XII. 1873.
8vo. 1 p., with accompanying envelope. Written in ink. Verdi, hard at work on a composition, writes to Count Opprandino Arrivabene, "Io holavorato tutt'oggi alla messa", but that he wishes to "sospendo un momento per augurarti Salute, Buona amore", etc. The mass Verdi is composing in December 1873 may well be his Messa da Requiem, composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni who had died that spring, and which would be first performed in May 1874. - Opprandino Arrivabene (1807-87) and Verdi were lifelong friends, and kept up a warm correspondence on subjects of music, politics, and private life. - Letter gently creased along folds, envelope lightly soiled with its date noted in pencil in a modern hand.
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Wagner, Richard, Komponist (1813-1883).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Zürich, 9. VIII. 1858.
4 SS. auf Doppelblatt. 4to. Schöner Brief aus Wagners letzten Tagen in Zürich, die unter dem Eindruck des endgültigen Bruchs mit seiner Frau Minna standen. Der Adressat des Briefs ist der befreundete Tenor Josef Tichatschek, der an der Dresdner Oper sehr erfolgreich mit Wagner zusammengearbeitet und auch in der Uraufführung des "Rienzi" 1842 die Titelpartie übernommen hatte: "Du hast mich durch die verständissvolle und innige Weise, mit der du mir deine Theilnahme für meine Lage ausdrückst, sehr gerührt und ergriffen! Du weisst, was mich so niederdrückend einnahm, als du bei mir warst, und verzeihest mir somit auch, dass ich dir nicht immer so heiter und unbefangen zu begegnen vermochte, wie es dein so sehr liebenswürdiger Besuch verdient hätte. Ende dieser Woche reise ich von Zürich fort. In Oberitalien, vermuthlich in Venedig, will ich suchen mir wieder ein Arbeitsstübchen zu bereiten; gebe der Himmel, dass ich bald wieder Ruhe zur Arbeit finde: sie einzig kann mir über mein leidvolles Leben hinweghelfen. Meine Frau gedenkt bis Ende des Monates unser Häuschen zu räumen; einiges wird sie verkaufen, das Beste soll sie verpacken lassen. Mein Wunsch ist, dass sie sich bald mit unsren Sachen in Deutschland wieder einrichtet. Welches mein ferneres Schicksal sein wird, kann ich jetzt nicht bestimmen; nur Eines suche ich: Ruhe, und nur Eines hoffe ich: wiederkehrende Arbeitslust […]". - Weiters über seine Bearbeitung von "Rienzi", die er "nach Deinem Wunsche, hier in Kürze" anfügt, und mit der Bitte, ihm doch "den Erfolg Deiner so schönen, ächt freundschaftlichen wie künstlerischen Bemühungen" zu melden. - Wagner verließ in der Woche darauf Zürich und reiste nach Venedig, um sich dort niederzulassen und weiter am "Tristan" zu arbeiten; Minna zog Anfang September zu ihren Verwandten nach Dresden. Erst drei Jahre später sollten sie einander in Paris wiedersehen, wo im März des Jahres 1861 der "Tannhäuser-Skandal" die musikalische Welt durchrüttelte; im Jahr darauf kam es im Februar 1862 ein letztes Mal zu einer persönlichen Begegnung, als Wagner in Wiesbaden-Biebrich an seinen "Meistersingern" arbeitete. - An wenigen Stellen unbedeutend fleckig, sonst tadellos erhalten. Abgedruckt in: Klaus Burmeister und Johannes Forner (Hg.), Richard Wagner. Sämtliche Briefe. Bd. IX (Leipzig, 2000), Nr. 237. Dort auch die dem Brief ursprünglich beigelegene, mit "17. Juli 1858" datierte Anlage, in der die Kürzungen vermerkt sind.
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Wormser, André, French composer (1851-1926).
4 autograph letters signed. Paris, 1903 / 1916.
8vo. (8+8+8+8 =) 16 pp. on 4 bifolia, comprising four letters. Accompanied by an autographed calling card (3 lines). The wealthy French composer and winner of the Prix de Rome writes to his sweetheart. In one letter, he has met with success and is eager to share news of it: "Si je me repose sur mes lauriers? Oh la! la! oh la! la! oh la! la! comme on dit en grec moderne. Après que pendant quinze ans personne n'a voulu de moi tout le monde en veut maintenant mais tout de suite et à la fois!" He explains further the struggles of a composer in demand: "Les commandes arrivent de plusieurs cotes, mais toujours au dernier moment. On veut de me demander la musique d'une féerie : l'oiseau Bleu. C'est gentil à faire, mais on ne donne moins de deux mois, c'est fou ! et moi-même je le deviendrai à ce régime. Quoiqu’il en soit il faut arriver à temps c'est important à tous les points de vue. Alors je me cloitre. C'est vous dire que je n'ou pas le temps d'aller en conservatoire pour entendre la musique des autres. Le Vendredi ou je serai à Londres pour l'enfant Prodigue". "L'Enfant Prodigue", Wormser's 1916 pantomime, was his best-known work. - However, in the midst of this, Wormser exclaims, "Mais vous, c'est vous que je voudrais voir et non au concert ou l'on ne peut pas parler. Vous ne pouvez pas me donner un soir...? Je lâcherais l'oiseau bleu! c'est vous dire si j'ai envie de bavarder amicalement. Nous nous conterons nos douleurs!" In all his letters, Wormser repeatedly asks, often wittily, why he has not received more letters from her. In another, he suggests a trip to the countryside, where the "air et le soleil" will heal her ills and her letter-writing. He adds that, "Je voudrais bien aller vous retrouver là-bas, d'abord pour vous voir, ensuite pour me reposer dans le calme et la solitude... Je deviens de plus en plus loup-garou". - Gently creased, faintly toned.
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Labiche, Eugène, French playwright (1815-1888).
Autograph letter signed. [Paris, postmark], 13. III. 1874.
12mo. 2 pp. on bifolium. With autograph envelope. To the playwright and librettist Philippe Gille, concerning the publication of a play that Labiche and Galle had co-authored. Labiche informs Gille that he has taken 30 copies for himself and gave one to "a Prussian", although he did not "seem to take the bait". Gille, on his part, should try to profit from his "connections to Vienna" in order "to make something of this little act". In closing, Labiche estimates their not yet satisfactory revenues. The letter in full: "Notre brochure a paru chez Dentu. Faites prendre les exemplaires dont vous aurez besoin. J'en ai pris 30. Je ferai le service du théâtre. J'ai donné aussi une brochure à un Prussien mais il n'a pas l'air de mordre. Voyez donc de votre côté si vous pouvez utiliser vos relations à Vienne pour tirer quelque chose de ce petit acte. - On ne nous joue pas aujourd'hui, je n'ai pas fait le compte, mais il me semble impossible que nous ayons déjà atteint un 5000 francs". - The play in question can be identified as the comedy "Garanti dix ans" (Paris, Dentu, 1874). Philippe Gille (1831-1901) is best known today for his co-authoring the librettos for Léo Delibes' opera "Lakmé" with Edmond Gondinet and Jules Massenet's "Manon" with Henri Meilhac. - On stationery with embossed monogram "EL". Minimally stained.
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Airy, Sir George Biddell, English mathematician and astronomer (1801-1892).
Autograph letter signed ("G. B. Airy"). Greenwich, London, 14. IV. 1836.
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. A letter addressed to Michael Faraday, FRS, by the seventh Astronomer Royal, G. B Airy, from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, on behalf of his First Assistant Robert Main, who is "extremely desirous of hearing the lecture of tomorrow evening". Airy thus asks Faraday, "Would it be convenient to you to send me a card of admission for him?". - Robert Main (1808-78), elder brother of the mathematician Thomas John Main, graduated in 1834 as sixth wrangler from Queens' College, Cambridge, and served for twenty-five years (1835-60) as First Assistant at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, publishing numerous articles, particularly on stellar and planetary motion, stellar parallax, and the dimensions and shapes of the planets. From 1841 to 1861 he was successively an honorary secretary, a vice-president, and President of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1860 he became director of Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford University and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. An ordained priest of the Church of England, he preached regularly while living in Greenwich. - One light yellow stain and faint browning to the edges. The final page has pencil markings, some finger-staining and one tear to the upper left-hand corner. A poignant piece of evidence for the eagnerness among scientists in the first half of the eighteenth century to gain access to Faraday's innovative work on electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
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Brunel, Marc Isambard, French-born British engineer (1769-1849).
Autograph letter signed ("M. I. Brunel"). Chelsea, London, 7 Aug. 1820.
8vo (125 x 200 mm). 1 p. on bifolium with integral address panel. In custom-made cloth portfolio. To George Yeats of Belgrave Place, Pimlico, writing with mischievous long-windedness: "My dear Sir, You ask me to give you a line to say whether I can dine with you on Friday at ¼ before 6 sans cérémonie. Now in one word I shall reply to your request, and I should say one single monosyllable is sufficient. Yet one monosyllable may be no or may be yes: which therefore of these shall I fix upon? My inclination and the pleasure of your company will not allow any hesitation on the alternative; consequently I must come to the point; but an engagement of a paramount obligation is one of the casualties which no one can guard against and be open to the first that comes in one's way. Wishing to be very brief and solicitous that you should not have a whole page to peruse I shall state first that in compliance with your very kind request, and having no engagement for that day you may put Yes in the third line of this note and allow me to add that I am yours very sincerely [...]". - Brunel is famous for building the first Thames Tunnel; his son was the no less famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. - George Yeats, Esq., an accountant with the Navy Office, died on 29 April 1824 at his home at Lower Belgrave Place. - From the collection of the American engineer, Dr. Verne Louis Roberts (1939-2007), with his bookplate the the inside cover of the portfolio.
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Dalton, John, English chemist, physicist and meteorologist (1766-1844).
Heights of Mountains in Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire and Yorkshire. No place or date.
8vo. 1 p. Mounted on larger backing paper. The influential English natural scientist John Dalton is best known today for his work on atomic theory and his contribution to the ideal gas laws. A native of Cumbria, Dalton was also, however, an avid fellwalker who is estimated to have ascended the peak Helvellyn in excess of 40 times over the course of his life. The present autograph is a testimony to Dalton's pleasure in bringing together his passions for science and the great outdoors. It records the "Heights of Mountains in Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire and Yorkshire above the level of the sea, taken by barometrical observations" in a list of thirteen peaks and their altitude in feet: "Sca Fell [!] -- 3240; Helvellyn -- 3225; Skiddaw -- 3195; Rydal Head -- 3096; Grasmere [!] (NE. Crummock) -- 2865; Coniston (Old Man) -- 2571; Bow fell (Langdale) -- 3084 ..."). Dalton's work on the heights of the Lakeland fells would be standard until the late-19th century efforts of the Ordnance Survey. - After moving to the city of Manchester to take up a life of teaching and research from the age of 27, Dalton returned regularly to the Lake District during the holidays when he took the opportunity to measure the heights of the mountains as he walked. Earlier in his life, the scientist had perfected to this end the construction of a barometer, which he carried with him to record readings as he went. The best results were obtained from simultaneous pressure readings from a pair of inter-calibrated and temperature-corrected barometers. It was while climbing Skiddaw with his barometer in July 1812 that Dalton first made the acquaintance of the Lake District geologist and guide Jonathan Otley. Otley later accompanied Dalton as a companion and paid guide on many of his climbs between 1812 and 1836. - The well-preserved inventory of fells and altitude measurements is on a single-sided piece of note paper with absolutely minimal damage or marking. The title and list are in Dalton's hand. Two further hands (one in dark ink, a second in pencil) add six words of commentary on the object and its author. The small 8vo page is affixed to a larger sheet. Overall, a splendid piece of evidence for the ongoing scientific interest in the Lake District, which went hand-in-hand with contemporary Romantic idealisation of its landscapes. Cf. D. Howe, Rocks and Rain, Reason and Romance: The Landscape, History and People of the Lake District (Glasgow , 2019). S. Ross, "John Dalton’s Lakeland Excursions". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 53.1 (1999), pp. 79-94. A. L. Smyth, John Dalton: 1766-1844; a Bibliography of Works by and about Him. (Manchester, 1966).
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Eiffel, Gustave, French civil engineer and architect (1832-1923).
Autograph letter signed ("G. Eiffel"). Paris, 16. VI. 1920.
4to. 1 page. Attached are 3 pages comprising 3 typed letters in related correspondence addressed to Eiffel. Accusations of plagiarized aircraft designs, addressed to Ernest Lemonon (1878-1956), lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Paris. Eiffel states confidently, "L'avion Junker-Fokker est en effet un plagiat de notre avion L.E. et on m'a dit que cela avait été construit d'après un bleu. qui avait été communiqué." He goes on to direct Lémonon to the relevant pages of his recent book, "Résumé des Principaux Travaux exécuté pendant la guerre au Laboratorie aerodynamique G. Eiffel", which Eiffel feels will prove that his designs were indeed published first, and then copied by his German competitors. - While it is unclear that Eiffel's complaint had any effect, Anthony Fokker of Junker-Fokker did have something of a reputation for acquiring designs through dishonourable tactics, though from his reluctant business partner, Hugo Junkers, rather than Gustave Eiffel. - Gently creased along folds and at corners. Glued to the reverse is the first of three typewritten letters, the other two of which are also pasted together at the top left corner. The additional typed letters are on much thinner paper, which has browned and lightly chipped along the edges.
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Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Philosoph (1770-1831).
Eigenh. Mitteilung mit U. [Berlin], 31. V. 1828.
1 S. Qu.-8vo. An einen Buchhändler oder Bibliothekar mit der Zusage einer Abnahme von Mailáths eben erscheinender Geschichte des ungarischen Volks: "Die Geschichte der Magyaren will ich behalten". - Der aus Pest gebürtige Historiker und Schriftsteller Johann Mailáth (Graf Mailáth von Székhely), dessen "Geschichte der Magyaren" von 1828 bis 1831 in fünf Bänden gedruckt werden sollte, wurde Jahre später (1853) von Herzog Maximilian in Bayern als Geschichtslehrer für seine damals schon mit Kaiser Franz Joseph I. verlobte Tochter Elisabeth engagiert. Da seine finanzielle Situation trotz dieser Anstellung immer unhaltbarer wurde, wählte er im Jänner 1855 zusammen mit seiner Tochter Henriette den Freitod: "Am 3. Jänner entfernten sich beide, Vater und Tochter, von München und fanden, an den Armen aneinander gebunden, wie im Leben so im Tode vereint im Starenberger-See ihren Untergang. Sie wurden Beide am 4. Jänner bei Ammerland herausgezogen. Sie waren mit einem großen Tuche fest an einander gebunden und hatten die Taschen mit Steinen gefüllt" (Wurzbach XVI, 302).
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Humboldt, Alexander von, German naturalist and explorer (1769-1859).
Autograph letter signed. Berlin, 22. II. 1840.
Folio. 3 pp. on bifolium. In French. Highly interesting letter to the diplomat, traveller, and historian Henri Ternaux-Compans who had succeeded Humboldt as editor of the periodical "Annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire" founded in 1819. Humboldt grants a request to "continue to place my name among the editors of the Annales des Voyages" as a courtesy to Ternaux-Compans, who had previously given him access to his collections. However, Humboldt goes to great lengths to explain this personal favour, as he did not usually permit his name to be attached to such projects, given his position. His participation as an editor between 1836 and 1839 had already been a personal favour to the publisher Théophile-Étienne Gide, who had "affectionately pressed" him. In a curious request, he asks for his name to be removed in the event that Ternaux-Compans should leave the Annales before Humboldt is "placed among the fossil corpses". - Although his personal involvement appears to have been largely symbolic, Humboldt is highly critical of the publication and offers advice for its improvement. Given the severity of his criticism, he asks Ternaux-Compans not to show the letter to his predecessor Jean-Baptiste-Benoît Eyriès, for whom he expresses great admiration as a scientist, or any "person who might tell him about it". For Humboldt, the Annales were from the start, under their first editor Conrad Malte-Brun, "of bleak mediocrity", even if he ranks the journal above the "Bulletin de la Société de géographie de Paris". He attributes this mediocrity to a lack of scientific data and other relevant information: "of astronomically determined positions, of elevation determinations, of indications for average temperatures, of catalogues of maps published abroad, of detailed insights concerning the magnetic stations, of expeditions to the South Pole". Therefore, the Annales is a publication for amateurs, and even for them it is "too jejune", providing no interest to readers who wish to know what is "discovered on the surface of the globe". By contrast, Humboldt praises several German publications, such as Heinrich Christian Schumacher's "Astronomische Nachrichten" and the "Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift", wherein Humboldt himself published. His advice to Ternaux-Compans is to collaborate with people "who possess scientific knowledge in a distinguished manner", naming, e.g., the engineer Pierre Daussy, the cartographer Louis-Isidore Duperrey, and the explorer Louis de Freycinet. He further suggests to translate and publish articles from the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, which is "admirably edited", and, finally, to consult the archaeologist Jean-Antoine Letronne. - Tears to the folds and margins, minimally affecting the text, partly repaired and reinforced with adhesive tape. With a collector's note in pencil. Some browning overall.
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Laennec, René-Théophile, physician and inventor of the stethoscope (1781-1826).
Autograph letter signed. Paris, 11. V. 1812.
4to. 2 pp. Touching letter to his father, evoking his difficulties as a young doctor. Laennec is "désolé des accidents qui vous sont arrivés et d'autant plus que je ne puis à beaucoup près réparé la brêche". He explains that he has written to his businessman to pay his father "ce qu'il a de disponible tant à moi qu'à ma soeur à qui j'en tiendrai compte par parties, si je ne puis payer le tout à la fois. C'est le seul moyen que j'aye de vous être utile en ce moment. Cette année est loin d'être meilleure que les précédentes." Regarding his income from his patients, he explains: "Je vois autant de malades que j'en puis voir. Quelques uns me payent bien, d'autres mal, beaucoup point du tout". - After these early struggles, Laennec would have a successful career, famously inventing and pioneering the use of the stethoscope. - One small chip in margin, a few smudges and ink blots, gently creased, evidence of removed wax stamp.
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Planck, Max, Physiker, Nobelpreisträger, Begründer der Quantenphysik (1858-1947).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. [Berlin], 19. XI. 1941.
2 SS. auf 1 Bl. 8vo. Schöner und persönlicher Brief an seine Nichte Gretl. "Du sprichst von dem Vortrag, den ich neulich in der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft gehalten habe, und mir scheint, daß Du von den Zeitungsberichten darüber nicht ganz befriedigt bist. Nun weiß ich nicht, welche Zeitung Du gelesen hast. Deshalb lege ich Dir hier das Referat aus der Deutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung bei, mit der Bitte um gelegentliche Rückgabe [...] Noch immer denke ich sehr gern und dankbar an den genußreichen und behaglichen Mittag bei Dir zurück. Es tut so wohl, in dieser von schwarzen immer drohender aufsteigenden Wolken beschatteten Zeit einmal im engsten befreundeten Kreis sich bewußt zu werden, daß es auch jetzt noch geistige und substantielle Freuden gibt, die einem das Leben verschönern und veredeln [...]". - Leichter Mittelfalz und im linken Rand gelocht (minimale Buchstabenberührung); stellenweise unbedeutend fleckig. Auf Briefpapier mit gedrucktem Briefkopf von Plancks privater Anschrift Berlin-Grunewald, Wangenheimstraße 21.
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Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad, erster Nobelpreisträger für Physik, Entdecker der Röntgenstrahlen (1845-1923).
Eigenh. Postkarte mit U. ("W. C. Röntgen"). München, 12. V. 1917.
1½ SS. Qu.-8vo. Mit eh. Adresse. An Adolph von Harnack in Berlin: "Hochverehrter Herr College! Mit verbindlichem Dank bestätige ich den Empfang Ihrer freundlichen Mitteilung vom 6. d. M. [...]". - Röntgen war 1900, fünf Jahre nach seiner Entdeckung der nach ihm benannten Strahlen, dem Ruf nach München als ordentlicher Professor für Physik gefolgt, wo er bis 1920 lehrte. Seinem testamentarischen Wunsch folgend wurde sein wissenschaftlicher Nachlass verbrannt. Harnack machte sich in jener Zeit als Wissenschaftsorganisator in Preußen verdient. Er wurde Präsident der dank seiner Initiative 1911 gegründeten Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft und war von 1905 bis 1921 Generaldirektor der Königlichen Bibliothek. - Gelaufene, vorfrankierte "Königreich Bayern Postkarte". Tadellos erhalten.
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Solvay, Ernest, Belgian chemist and industrialist (1838-1922).
Autograph letter signed. La Hulpe, 10. IX. 1909.
8vo. 1 leaf, folded to 4 pages. Though he was unable to attend university due to his health, in this letter Solvay displays his academic prowess as a chemist and inventor. He writes to the journal "Revue générale des sciences pures et appliquées" to discuss an article which he has already published, "Physico-chimie et Biologie", and to offer another: "Je vous présente aujourd'hui un second article intitulé: 'Physico-chimie et Psychologie'". A further third article is mentioned as a possibility, one which coincides with the work of another scientist published in the Revue ("Certaines vues, exposées par M. Pierre Girard dans son article du 30 août : L'Électrisation de contact en Biologie coïncident avec les miennes"). - Faint creasing; an 'R' is marked near the letterhead in blue crayon.
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Tesla, Nikola, Serbian-American inventor (1856-1943).
Autograph letter signed ("N. Tesla"), together with photographic portrait. New York, 22. XI. 1909.
8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium. On Waldorf-Astoria stationery, with accompanying envelope addressed in Tesla's hand, and postcard featuring a photograph of Tesla (silver gelatin print photographic postcard). To Anita Drysdale Hawkins (1874-1957), an employee at his Wardenclyffe Tower plant in Shoreham, New York. Generous to the last, Tesla sends funds for his workers' salaries and to pay for their Thanksgiving turkeys. At this point, Tesla was deeply in debt and had turned to working on mechanical engineering projects so as to try and keep Wardenclyffe operational, in an effort to finally complete it. He still sought to reach his vision of transmitting wireless power around the globe. - Tesla also mentions: "Your letter has alarmed me and I would wish you to look for some reliable man to watch the place. If you find one communicate with me at once so that I may arrange for employing him." Apparently this was the result of hearing Miss Hawkins's report of vandalism that had occurred at the sparsely staffed plant. He signs off with, "P.S. Oblige by writing". - Hints of wear, otherwise in good condition.
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Calder, Alexander, American sculptor (1898-1976).
Autograph postcard signed and with a small sketch. [Roxbury (Litchfield County, CT), 9 May 1958].
8vo. 2 pp. With autograph address. To the Franco-Hungarian sculptor István Beöthy (Etienne Beothy) in Montrouge/Seine, announcing his arrival in Paris for the end of June. The sketch on the card's picture side, partly hand-coloured by Calder, shows a "collaboration entre vaches et sculpteur" ("collaboration between cows and sculptor").
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Dufy, Jean, painter (1888-1964).
Autograph letter signed. No place or date.
4to. ½ p. With autograph pencil sketches on verso. Addressed to the actor Léon Mathot, announcing his arrival in Paris on the Friday evening. Dufy will be bringing some paintings with him. He proposes a meeting on Saturday and sends friendly greetings to Mathot's wife: "Je serais à Paris Vendredi soir, et muni q.q. bonnes toiles. Vous pourrez me trouver chez moi Samedi matin vers 10 heures. Bien à vous / Jean Dufy / Mes amitiés à Madame Mathot [...]". Dufy had dedicated his painting "Bouquet de Fleurs" (1925) to Madame Mathot. - Left margin reinforced with paper. Some minor breaks in the paper along the folding lines, edges slightly damaged. Verso with address notes, collector's note, two sketches (hat and interior) in pencil and somewhat foxed in places.
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Dunoyer de Segonzac, André, French painter and illustrator (1884-1974).
5 autograph picture postcards signed and 2 autograph letters signed. Paris, Saint Tropez, Signac, Toulon, and n. p., 1920-1971.
Various formats. Altogether 7 pp. With 2 autograph envelopes. 2 postcards mounted together on cardboard. Interesting collection comprising letters to the librarian Julien Cain, the painter and art critic Roland Chavenon, the historian René Héron de Villefosse, and the illustrator and designer Georges Lepape. The earliest letter in the collection with a postmark from 20 March 1920 is addressed to Chavenon, thanking him for his "beautiful book", probably "La part de la nature dans l'art" (Paris 1920) and praising in particular the "chapter dedicated to the decorative arts". A second letter to Chavenon with a Paris postmark from 15 October 1933 accompanied a text for a periodical named "L'Éclaireur", which might be "a bit long". - In a postcard from 23 June 1957, Dunoyer de Segonzac congratulates Georges Lepape (not named) on his exhibition "Paris 09-29" that commemorated the glamorous Parisian life of the years 1909-29 through its decorative arts. Dunoyer de Segonzac expresses his hope that the youth will learn about the 'spring of the century'. - The longest letter in the collection, dated 23 August 1963, was certainly addressed to René Héron de Villefosse. Dunoyer de Segonzac congratulates the historian on his forthcoming book "L'Ile de France" (Paris, 1966) and lays out his ideas for illustrations, while criticising existing designs: "L'illustration graphique d'un tel ouvrage soit être parallèle comme esprit à votre papier : beaucoup de dessins et même de croquis à l'encre de Chine, accompagneraient, je crois, très bien, vos écrits - les dessins synthétiques qui illustrent votre 'Île de France' - sont loin d'être indifférents mais ont, à mon avis, un caractère trop statique et un peu froid". The letter was convincing; the artist ultimately contributed 14 lithographs and 4 woodcuts to the publication. - On 3 February 1968, Dunoyer de Segonzac wrote a postcard to Julien Cain and his wife to thank them for a photograph of Cain and him: "Merci mille fois pour l'excellent et vivante photo en couleur évocatrice de Julien et de moi-même. C'est un témoignage précieux de notre vieille et grande amitié". - The final two postcards in the collection from January 1970 and 1971 are both to thank an unnamed recipient for New Year's wishes. - The second letter to Chavenon and the letter to Cain stapled to the original envelopes. The letter to Héron de Villefosse with staple holes. Well preserved.
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Miró, Joan, Maler (1893-1983).
Eigenh. Brief mit U. Barcelona, 18. VII. 1954.
2 SS. 4to. An den Kunstkritiker Keith Andrews. An dem ihm von dem Kunsthistoriker James Johnson Sweeney genannten Zeitpunkt des Aufenthalts von Andrews in Barcelona sei er, Miró, gerade am Lande, deshalb übermittle er die Kontaktdaten seines Freundes, des Kunstsammlers Joan Prat. Dennoch hoffe Miró, Herrn Andrews bei anderer Gelegenheit in Barcelona, Paris oder Amerika zu treffen: "Notre ami James Johnson Sweeney m'avait déjà prévenu de votre visite à Barcelona. Malheureusement je suis vraiment navré, mais à la date que vous m'indiquer, je serais à la campagne. Vous pouvez cependant vous adresse en mon nom à mon ami Joan Prats [...] Vous pouvez aussi éssayer de me téléphoner [...] pour si par hasard je me trouverai là. J'éspère que j'aurai l'occasion d vous rencontrer un autre jour, soit ici, soit à Paris ou en Amérique, ce qui me ferait vraiment grand plaisir [...]". - Miró hatte 1954 den Großen Preis für Grafik auf der Biennale in Venedig gewonnen; es entstanden unter anderem die Werke "Le sourire aux ailes flamboyantes" (Das Lächeln mit flammenden Flügeln), "Jeu d'enfant", "Et l'oiseaux s'enfuit vers les pyramides [...]", "Oiseaux abstrait" und "L'oiseau de proie fonce sur nous". - Mit in Schwarz gepr. Namenszug.
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Signac, Paul, painter (1863-1935).
Autograph letter signed. [Paris, 1891].
4to. 2 pp. on bifolium. To his friend, the writer Georges Lecomte, with a request for tickets to the latter's play "La Meule". If Lecomte were willing to bring them to him personally at home, they could "carve the aesthetic basalt" together: "Bien que nos relations soient plutôt rares, pourquoi? Je nous crois encore suffisamment amis pour te prier de mettre à ma dispostion - oh, si cela ne te derange en rien! des siéges en ton théatre, un de ces soirs prochains. Je pense c'est pour les dames. Ces place devrais-je les prendre chez le concierge, ou seront-elles déposées à mon nom Salle d'armes Bandry 108 rue Richelieu, j'y vais chaque soir de 6 à 7. Il serait peut-etre encore mieux de me les porter toi-même à mon domicile 15 rue Hégesippe Moreau [...] pour tailler esthetique basalte [...]". - Signac maintained a workshop at 15 rue Hégesippe Moreau from 1889 to 1892 (in the letter he refers to the address as his home) and there painted the portrait of Felix Fénéon (New York, MoMA). Lecomte, whose play "La Meule" premiered at the Théâtre-Libre on 26 February 1891, was best man at Berthe Roblès and Signac's wedding the following year. - With longer marginal tears and paper tears along the folding lines. Verso of the counterfoil slightly ink-stained.
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Baratier, Paul Joseph Auguste , soldier and Chairman of the Versailles Military Committee (1870-1939).
Autograph letter signed. No place or date.
4to. 5¾ pp. on 6 folios. An essay on several changes to the law concerning military engineers. These changes to the previous set of regulations, which still dated from the early days of the revolution, had significant implications for engineers in Baratier's day. He describes changes in training and training centres, in the hierarchy's ranking system and in the various specialisations of available to engineers: "Ingénieurs Militaires / Au moment où vient d'être promulguée une loi, créant le corps spécial des ingénieurs militaires, il peut être intéressant d'examiner les changements que la nouvelle législation apportera aux anciennes dispositions. Anciennes, à la vérité, car elles remontent aux premiers temps de la Révolution [...]" ( "Military Engineers / At a time when a law has just been issued, which creates the special corps of military engineers, it may be interesting to examine the changes that the new legislation will bring to the previous regulations. Old, indeed, for they date back to the early days of the Revolution [...]"). - With notes in pencil. Somewhat dusty and fingerstained in places; paper occasionally browned. The first sheet is mounted, with numerous longer and shorter marginal tears along the central fold line.
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Bonaparte, Caroline (M. A. Carolina Murat), Queen of Naples (1782-1839), Napoléon's sister.
Autograph letter signed ("C. de Lipona"). Bains de la Battaglia, 27 Aug. 1823.
4to. 1½ pp. on bifolium with integral address panel. Watermark: angel holding a scroll with initials "GR". Addressed to the steward of her estate Frohsdorf in Lower Austria, Boruzki, with a series of tasks and the expression of her satisfaction with Boruzki's efforts towards the agricultural and financial care of the estate. Boruzki should accommodate the family of Count Odelga fittingly in Frohsdorf, and carry out Bonaparte's instructions on the manorial distillery and its distiller Wais, animal sales, the mine, and recently arrived documents from Venice. She also expresses her thanks to the harvesters and congratulations on the birth of Boruzki's son: "Je viens de recevoir, Monsieur le Wervalter, votre lettre du 15 et je suis enchantée des détails que vous me donnez sur ma Seigneurie de Frohsdorf: j'espère que la suite de vos opérations agricoles répondra au commencement, et que la récolte répondra à vos soins [...] Assurez les Employés de ma réconnaissence pour le zèle qu'ils ont déployé à la rentrée des récoltes [...]". - Caroline bought Frohsdorf Castle in 1817 and lived there as "Comtesse de Lipona" with her second husband, General Macdonald, during the next five years of the exile imposed on her by the provisions of the Congress of Vienna. In Frohsdorf she was surrounded by only a few people; her sister Pauline and her brother Jérôme had become estranged: on 3 March 1818 Jérôme wrote to Elisa Bonaparte, "Je n'espère rien de Caroline, ils sont anti-français et anti-famille [...]" ("I hope for nothing from Caroline, they are anti-French and anti-family", Archives nationales AP 15). - The tears caused by letter opening have been expertly restored. There is a longer marginal tear along the fold, a small paper break resulting from ink corrosion, and a collector's note in pencil
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Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles-Maurice de, French statesman (1754-1838).
Autograph letter signed. No place, 26 Feb. 1798.
4to. ½ p. on bifolium with integral address panel and seal. Watermark of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Written in his office as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Directorate. Addressed to the Ambassador of Sardinia, Prospero Balbo (1762-1837), in order to arrange a meeting for the following afternoon as a public hearing would be held: "Demain est un jour d'audience publique: voulez vous permettre que notre rendezvous soit pour aprèsmidi à une heure et demie [...]" (Tomorrow is a day of public hearing: would you allow that our meeting take place in the afternoon at half past one [...]"). - Talleyrand was appointed Citizens' Foreign Minister by the Directorate in 1797 under the leadership of Paul de Barras through the intercession of Madame de Staël. - With a torn hole resulting from letter opening.
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Desbordes-Valmore, Marceline, poet and author (1786-1859).
Autograph letter signed. No place, 12 Feb. 1847.
8vo. 1½ pp. An emotional, almost poetic letter of thanks to a Monsieur referring to her petition on behalf of a certain Madame Thuilot. Thuilot is described as a most upstanding and honest woman, tormented by a passionate regret that makes her an object of interest to everyone, even to those who understand nothing of her suffering. Desbordes counts herself, indeed, among this number, and claims to share in Madame Thuilot's pain precisely because it has gripped the sufferer so deeply and seriously. The addressee would be blessed by Thuilot's poor sick heart and also by that of Desbordes: "Vous répondez avec bien de la grace et da la bonté à ma prière pour Madame Thuilot et je vous en fais mon vif remerciement. Il est vrai qu'il n'y a pas monde une meilleure et plus honnête femme, ni plus tourmentée d'un regret passionné qui tient à bon entrailler, et la rend intéressante même pour ceux qui n'y comprennent rien. Je suis de ce nombre et je compatis à Sa peine uniquement parce que je la vois sincère et profonde [...] lumières en éclairent la source et vous sera béni de ce pauvre cœur malade. Du mien aussi, Monsieur, qui soulève un abattement douloureux. Pour vous saluer de ma gratitude et de mon estime particulière [...]" (You have answered my prayers for Madame Thuilot with great grace and kindness, and I thank you very much for it. It is true that there is no better and more honest woman in the world, nor one more tormented by a passionate regret which holds her fast in its grip, and makes her interesting even to those who understand nothing about her. I am one of them and I sympathise with her pain only because I see it as sincere and deep [...] lights illuminate its source and you will be blessed by this poor sick heart. By mine too, Sir, which causes me painful dejection. Sending you my gratitude and special esteem [...]". - Desbordes-Valmore achieved the great success with her poems on themes such as motherhood, love, friendship, childhood, God and social injustice. She processed the numerous strokes of fate in her life through poetry, earning her the nickname "Notre-Dame-des-Pleurs" ("Our Lady of the Tears"). - Slightly yellowed in places.
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Deschanel, Emile, writer and politician (1819-1904).
3 autograph letters signed. Schaerbeek, 17, 18 and 21 Feb. 1856.
8vo. Altogether 12 pp. (4+4+4) on 6 ff. To his hosts Mme and M Morel, M d'Otreppe, "Société d'Emulation" (Liege), MM Polain, Gérimont, Frédérix, Mme and M Baron, M dela Rousselière, M Baze. Deschanel discusses the membership fee of 5 francs. - Deschanel spread his Republican ideas through the press and often appeared as a speaker. Forced to flee Paris in 1851, he lived in exile in Brussels, among other places, where he gave well-attended literary lectures.
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Doyle, Arthur Conan, British writer and physician (1859-1930).
Autograph postcard signed. Crowborough, [postal stamp: 1918].
Oblong 8vo. ½ page (5 lines). With autograph address. To the Bristol brewer and businessman Frederick William Bennett (d. 27 Sept. 1941): "Dear Sir / It does seem most disgraceful / Yours sincerely / A Conan Doyle [...]". - Doyle in his later life turned to spiritualism and in 1918 published his first spiritualist book "The New Revelation". - Slightly browned due to paper.
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Leblanc, Maurice, French novelist (1864-1941), creator of Arsène Lupin.
1 autograph letter signed "Maurice Leblanc", 1 autograph letter monogramed, and 1 autograph postcard signed "Maurice". N. p., 5 July 1893, 16 June 1916, and 21 June 1916.
4to and postcard format. Together 4 pp. Correspondence with his close friend, the translator Louis Tabulet, concerning a meeting and an invitation to spend some days in Leblanc's villa in Étretat. In the postcard from 5 July 1893, Leblanc asks Tabulet to visit him early in the morning, as he has an appointment with the publisher Paul Ollendorff. Ollendorff published Leblanc's first novel "Une femme" in 1893 and would be his publisher until 1904, with a total of nine publications. - The much later letters from the summer of 1916 are an invitation to spend some days in Étretat "during the great storm" of the First World War together with Leblanc, his second wife Marguerite and her son Claude. Since 1915 Leblanc rented a villa in Étretat, Normandy; he bought the place outright in 1918 and named it Le Clos Lupin in homage to his most famous character, Arsène Lupin. On 16 June 1916 Leblanc first announced his idea to Tabulet, noting that they had rented a "charming villa" and that Étretat "has the advantage of being almost deserted" during that time of the year except for English guests, hoping that this information might entice his anglophile friend - apparently with success, as Leblanc asks his friend to give him a day to find a housekeeper before joining him in Étretat (21 June 1916). In another reference to the "tragic times" of the war, Leblanc emphasizes how much he looks forward to spending time by the sea with his friend. Today, Le Clos Arsène Lupin is a museum dedicated to Maurice Leblanc and his famous character. - Traces of folds. Some browning.
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Murray, John Archibald, writer and judge (1778-1859).
Autograph letter (fragment) signed. No place or date.
Oblong 12mo. 1 page (4 lines). Mounted on backing paper. "Believe me / Dear Sir / very truly Yours / John A. Murray". - With collector's note to backing paper.
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Noailles, Princesse Anna de , poet (1876-1933).
Autograph letter signed. Place illegible, 13 March (no year).
Oblong 8vo. 2 pp. An engaging philosophical reflection on a portrait of the Marquise de Sévigné: The variety of portraits makes one aware that they cannot give precise information about a face. The Marquise was certainly beautiful and of a sublime elegance, especially thanks to her intellectual gifts. Men perhaps did not find her attractive precisely because she did not want them to. This was conceivably the reason why her radiant and powerful existence was sad and poetic: "Les portraits ne peuvent pas nous renseigner exactement sur un visage, il suffit pour s'en rendre compte de voir leur trompeuse diversité, mais ils nous permettent de deviner. Madame de Sévigné eut certes, de la beauté et, en plus, cette beauté supérieure que confère la magie des dons intellectuels. Je crois qu'elle ne plaisait pas extrêmement aux hommes parce qu'elle ne souhaitait pas leur plaire. C'est peut-être ce qui rend son étincelante et vigoureuse existence triste et poétique [...]". - The aristocratic writer Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626-96), is counted among the classics of French literature because of her famous letters. She rented a city palace for the last twenty years of her life, the later "Musée Carnavalet" in the Rue de Sévigné. In another city palace, the "Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau" (today also the Musée Carnavalet), a Chambre Anna de Noailles has been preserved in which the poet received guests in utmost modesty.
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Thackeray, William Makepeace, novelist, author and illustrator (1811-1863).
Autograph notes. No place or date.
Oblong 16mo. 1 page (5 lines). Mounted on backing paper. "Hume's House of Hamilton. / Ashmole's History of the Garter. / Dalrymple's Memoirs of Gt. Britain. / Délices des Pays Bas. / Life of Eugene". - The second and third title are followed by ticks. A clipped fragment of an ink drawing is visible along the upper margin. Slightly browned and stained. According to the collector's note on the backing paper, Thackeray's handwriting of his works is known to differ from that of his letters.
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Valéry, Paul, French poet and philosopher (1871-1945).
Autograph letter signed. No place, "Lundi" [1 Feb. 1897].
8vo. 4 pp. on bifolium. With autograph envelope. Interesting and beautiful letter to Stéphane Mallarmé concerning a dinner in Mallarmé's honour that was scheduled for the following day. Valéry had organized the dinner in celebration of the publication of Mallarmé's essay-collection "Divagations" together with the so-called Mardistes, the artistic circle surrounding Mallarmé that would meet every Tuesday in the house of the poet. Despite his involvement in the organization, Valéry wrote to inform Mallarmé that the dinner would not be as intimate as planned, blaming the co-organizers: "j'ai appris hier avec un double regret que cette fête intime serait assez différente de la projetée ; et que, dans la réalité, il serait tenu peu de compte de ce qui avait été convenu entre l'initiative et moi, d’une part ; entre vous et moi, de l'autre". Therefore, he would even prefer not to attend this "random meeting", fearing that his feelings for Mallarmé might be offended by others: "Je vous avoue, mon cher maître, que je pense ne pas assister à un rendez-vous que je me trouve avoir indiqué trop vaguement. Du reste, mes sentiments pour vous, pourraient eux-mêmes se trouver froissés à droite ou à gauche par je ne sais qui". - Valéry had imagined a "dialogue between a certain group" and Mallarmé that had a "long association through reading and the Tuesdays" and could do without the "eternal restarts of the negotiations". Thus, he draws a "bitter philosophical conclusion, as is customary", wondering whether this "incoherence between advice and execution" shows how little "the ideas of unity and continuous efforts" that produce "the rare new forms of thinking and of writing" have penetrated society, "even in an elite", and alludes to Edgar Allen Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue", although misrepresenting Poe's allegorization of the Roman goddess Laverna. - Valéry's motives for backing out were more personal than he would admit in the letter: the Mardist André-Ferdinand Hérold had invited Léon Dierx and Catulle Mendès against Valery's wishes. Mendès, on the other hand, was offended because the invitation reached him only on the day before the dinner. Asking Mallarmé directly if he wished him to come, the response must not have been very encouraging, as Mendès ultimately declined. Valéry was not aware of Mendès' decision when he wrote the letter at hand. Mallarmé responded encourageingly, asking Valéry to come for his sake and underlining that he did indeed remember what has been agreed upon. The dinner took place at the famous Cabaret du Père Lathuille in Batignolles. While Mallarmé was very pleased with the event, Claude Debussy was afraid that people might have noticed how bored he was, judging from the expression of his face. - Traces of folds. Well preserved. M. Jarrety, Valéry-Mallarmé : des instananés sans légende, in: Romantisme 122 (2003), pp. 119-128.
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Bach, Johann Sebastian, German composer (1685-1750).
Autograph receipt signed. [Leipzig, June or July] 1748.
Oblong 12mo (ca. 98 x 52 mm). 1 p., with a similar receipt for another legacy with 4 additional signatures on verso. Evenly browned, a little stained, edges a little chipped. Decoratively framed and glazed with a brass plaque and an engraved portrait (light chipping to gilt frame). Signature by Johann Sebastian Bach, confirming in his own hand the receipt of 2 guilders ("acc[epi] - 2 fl.") from the Lobwasser Bequest. The sum was paid out around every 2nd of July to the cantor, deputy headmaster, and third teacher (tertius) at St. Thomas. Above and below Bach's signature, his colleagues Conrad Benedict Hülse and Abraham Kriegel sign for their 2 guilders. - One of Bach's several supplementary sources of income which together made up a substantial part of his Leipzig salary, this payment would in the mid-18th century have corresponded roughly to an organist's weekly wages. The "Legatum Lobwasserianum", a legacy of 1000 guilders, was bequeathed in 1610 by a Leipzig lawyer's pious widow, Maria Lobwasser; the 50 guilders of annual interest, paid on the Feast of the Visitation, went toward supporting St Thomas's church and school personnel. - This is one of only two known receipts from Bach receiving his Lobwasser funds. The other, from 1750, was originally written on the same sheet of paper underneath the entry for 1748, but the two records were later cut apart and separated. Curiously, the relevant entry for 1749 must have been made in another, now lost document, as a date "1749" and Hülse's stricken-out signature, apparently made here in error, appear at the bottom of the present slip of paper (formerly between the 1748 and 1750 records). The small 8vo leaf, removed from a receipt book, was complete in 1908 when it was offered at C. G. Boerner's sale of "precious autographs from a Viennese private collection" (lot 3). The buyer was probably the noted Swiss collector Karl Geigy-Hagenbach, in whose "album of manuscripts by illustrious personages", published in 1925, it was again illustrated intact. The receipt's location was subsequently unknown until, in May 1986, the present upper half of the sheet appeared at Christie's manuscripts sale (lot 271). It was likely acquired there by the Canadian chemist and physician Frederick Lewis Maitland Pattison (1923-2010) and subsequently sold by the New York dealer Kenneth W. Rendell (his description pasted on the reverse of the frame) to the Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits, Paris; acquired from their sale. - In December 2014, the lower half (bearing the receipt for 1750, signed by Bach's son Johann Christian in the place of the blind and dying composer) appeared at Swann's in New York, described as having previously been in the collection of the Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska (1879-1959), and was bought by the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig. C. G. Boerner, auction catalogue XCII (Leipzig, 8 & 9 May 1908), lot 3. K. Geigy-Hagenbach, Album von Handschriften berühmter Persönlichkeiten vom Mittelalter bis zur Neuzeit (Basel 1925), p. 243. H.-J. Schulze, Marginalien zu einigen Bach-Dokumenten, Bach Jahrbuch (1961), pp. 79-99, here at p. 93. Bach-Dokumente, Krit. Gesamtausgabe (ed. W. Neumann & H.-J. Schulze), vol. 1 (1963), p. 207, no. 137.
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Balakirev, Mily, Russian composer (1836-1910).
Autograph letter signed. St Petersburg, 28 Oct./ 9 Nov. 1898 [Julian and Gregorian style].
8vo. 2½ pp. on bifolium. In Russian. To a lady friend, concerning the publication of two of his romances with the Italian music publisher Casa Ricordi. Balakirev found it difficult formally to grant the publication rights to Ricordi, as they had previously been granted to the famous Russian publisher Fyodor Stellovsky "for all countries". However, as there was "no literary or musical agreement between Russia and Western European countries", so that "Russian publishers republish whatever they find advantageous", he assumed "that Ricordi can also publish Russian romances without asking for the rights" - also considering that he has seen "some of my romances published in Germany with Russian and German lyrics without my permission". - Balakirev made important contributions to the development of Russian classical music and the Russian romance genre, continuing the pioneering work of Mikhail Glinka. Together with César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakow, and Alexander Borodin, Balakirev formed the group of The Five in St Petersburg that collaborated to create a distinct national style of music. Although the group only existed from 1856 to 1870, it had enormous influence on the following generation of Russian composers. In Western Europe, the symbolist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy adopted their radical tonal language. - With rust-stains from a paperclip affecting the address. Traces of folds.
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Bazin, François, French composer (1816-1878).
Autograph letter signed. Paris, 24. V. 1859.
8vo. 1 p. To an administrator of the "Commission du chant de la ville de Paris", declaring his resignation from the commission due to a decision not to perform his choral piece "Les soldats de Pilate" at the 2nd general reunion of the Paris Orphéon. Bazin complains that he went through the trouble of changing the piece on behalf of the commission: "Les paroles de ce chœur, vous le savez, ont été soumises avant son exécution à la Commission du chant et à l'administration dont fous faites partie. Sur votre demande, et malgré ma répugnance à allonger ma composition, j'ai ajouté un chœur final qui dans cette situation nuit beaucoup à l'effet de ce morceau. Cela m'a couté de la peine et du temps". After affirming his personal respect for the recipient, Bazin declares: "Dans les arts comme dans les administrations, certains actes ont leur conséquence ; vous ne serez donc as étonné de savoir aujourd'hui par cette lettre ma démission de membre de la Commission du chant de la ville de Paris. Ce tout petit événement qui ne touchera personne ne m'empêche pas d'être comme par le pasé votre dévoué". Despite his resignation, Bazin followed Charles Gounod as director of the Paris Orphéon in 1860, which he remained until his death. The Orphéons were amateur choirs that formed as part of a larger movement in France, Spain and Portugal. By 1863 there were approximately 900 French Orphéons uniting more than 70,000 singers. - On mourning paper with embossed monogram. Minimally stained.
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Benedict, Julius, German-British composer and pianist (1804-1885).
Autograph letter signed ("Jules Benedict"). London, no date.
12mo. 2 pp. on bifolium. To a M. Gorbaut in Paris, probably a publisher, concerning an important project that is not further specified: "Je profite du départ de notre ami Mr. Roche pour Paris pour vous adresser ces lignes et pour vous prier de vouloir bien lui faire part du dernier bulletin, mon grand projet. J'espère que la proposition dont je vous ai parlé dans ma dernière lettre et que vous a été communiquée par Mr. Mira ne vous est pas désagréable [...]". - Born in Stuttgart, Benedict learnt composition from Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Carl Maria von Weber. In 1823 Weber introduced Benedict to Ludwig van Beethoven, and he obtained his first position as Kapellmeister of the Kärtnertortheater in Vienna. Similar positions in Naples and Paris followed, while Benedict's first operatic compositions enjoyed very limited success. In 1835 Benedict went to London, following a suggestion by Maria Malibran, where he would spend the remainder of his life. Benedict briefly conducted operas at the Lyceum Theatre before he was appointed conductor of the English Opera at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1838. From 1850 to 1852, Benedict accompanied Jenny Lind's famous tour of America as her accompanist and conductor. Upon his return, he became musical director at Her Majesty's Theatre under the management of James Henry Mapleson. His best known opera, "The Lily of Killarney", was produced at Covent Garden in 1862. - Traces of folds. With collector's note in brown ink.
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Beydts, Louis, French composer, music critic, and theatre director (1895-1953).
2 autograph letters signed. Paris, 3 Nov. 1931 and 21 Nov. 1952.
8vo and oblong 12mo. Together 3 pp. The earlier letter was written to thank an admired artist: "Je pense bien fidèlement à vous, mon cher Maître et ami et je vous redis ma profonde et constante gratitude". - The second letter was to offer a box for a representation of Ambroise Thomas' Mignon at the Opéra-Comique to an unnamed woman. - Louis Beydt was among the last composers of the traditional French operetta and a prolific composer of incidental music and film music. His short directorate of the Opéra-Comique from 1952 to 1952 was marked by the 50th anniversary production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and the first French production of The Rake's Progress. - The letter from 1931 somewhat creased, on stationery with embossed letterhead "34. Rue de Liège, VIIIe". The letter from 1952 on stationery of the Opéra-Comique.
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Blurus-Crotty, Georgina, soprano (1860-1932).
Autograph letter signed. Cardiff, 16. X. 1889.
4to. 1 page. With autograph envelope. To the musician Frederick Allan Wilshire (1868-1944): "I am very pleased to grant your request, and beg to subscribe myself / Yours faithfully Georgina Blurus-Crotty [...]". - With embossed monogram and collector's note to envelope.
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Boïeldieu, Adrien Louis, French composer (1815-1883).
Autograph letter signed. N. p., 31 Oct. (no year).
8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium. Interesting letter to the playwright Louis-Émile Vanderburch, concerning a collaboration with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and asking him for an idea for a play or a finished piece for the carneval season: "Maintenant voici ce que j'ai à vous demander : N'auriez-vous pas dans la tête ou en portefeuille, un sujet très bouffe seulement en un acte, mais une idée d'un gros comique pouvant être donné en plein carnaval comme pièce de circonstance, ce qui permettrait de se livrer à toutes sortes d'excentricités que vous traiterez si fièrement avec votre esprit. C'est ce que je cherche, [...] et j'ai communiqué mon idée à Perrin, qui m'approuve et m'encourage. Si vous aviez ce que je demande, ce serait une bonne affaire, et nous aurions une jolie petite pochade qui serait jouée longtemps [...]". The "Perrin" mentioned is likely the artist and theatre director Émile Perrin who directed the Opéra-Comique from 1848 to 1857 and later briefly the Paris Opéra. Vanderburch (1794-1862) was a successful and prolific playwright, but no collaborations between Boïeldieu and Vanderburch are recorded. Boïeldieu did indeed collaborate with Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (1799-1875) in the early 1840s. Saint-Georges is best known as the librettist of Donizetti's "La fille du régiment", Bizet's "La jolie fille de Perth", and his numerous co-authorships with Eugène Scribe. - On stationery with embossed monogram. Minor browning.
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Carré, Albert, French stage director, actor, and librettist (1852-1938).
1 autograph letter signed and 1 letter signed. Paris, 13 June 1908 and 29 May 1909.
8vo. Together 2 pp. on bifolia. Both to the conductor Walther Straram concerning his engagement as choirmaster and conductor at the Opéra-Comique. In the letter from 13 June 1908, Carré lays out the conditions of the ten-month engagement starting September. The second letter from 29 May 1909 was to remind Straram of the expiration of the contract at the end of the season. The earlier letter is written in Carré's own hand. - Carré had been a successful actor before becoming the director of the theâtre du Vaudeville in Paris in 1885. In 1898 he was appointed director of the Opéra-Comique, a position he would hold until 1914 and again from 1919 to 1925. - After conducting at the Paris Opéra and the Opéra-Comique, Walther Straram (1876-1933) founded his own Orchestre des Concerts Straram in 1925. The ensemble that emphasized contemporary music was considered to be among the best French orchestras at the time. Straram premiered Honegger's Prélude à la tempête, Ravel's Boléro, and Messiaen's Les Offrandes oubliées. In 1929 Stranvinsky conducted the orchestra for the first recording of Le Sacre du printemps. - Both on stationery with lithographed letterhead of the director of the Opéra-Comique. Traces of folds.
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Carvalho, Léon, French stage director (1825-1897).
Visiting card with autograph dedication signed. N. p. o. d.
Visiting card format. 5 lines. Thanking an unnamed recipient: "Merci cher Monsieur pour toutes vos sympathies. J'en suis profondement touché". The visiting card from Carvalho's time as director of the Opéra-Comique (1876-1887 and 1891-1897) with the lithographed inscription: "Directeur du Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique". - Some browning. Staple holes.
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Charpentier, Gustave, French composer (1860-1956).
2 autograph (picture) postcards signed. [Cannes and Antibes , 1905 and 8 June 1910 postmark].
Postcard format. Together 1 p. and 4 lines. The earlier postcard from Cannes to the singer Marie Rueff with a short message directly underneath, apologizing for not being able to attend an audition: "Un peu loin ! pour l'audition. Excusez-moi". - The second postcard to a M. Chatelin concerns Charpentier's charitable Conservatoire Populaire Mimi Pinson. Because the famous mime Georges Wague was still advertising the pantomime class despite a "limitation of students", Charpentier underlines that "all inscriptions will only be definite after the approval of the administration and of the professor", and gives further instructions. - Charpentier had founded the Conservatoire Populaire Mimi Pinson in 1902 to provide free artistic education to working girls in Paris. The name of the conservatory refers to the emblematic working-class character from Alfred Musset's 1845 poem "Mimi Pinson, profil de grisette". The poem inspired Henry Murger to create his like-named character in "Scènes de la Vie Bohème". Charpentier's greatest success "Louise", which premiered in 1900, is the story of working-class life in Paris, the heroine being a seamstress. Unable to repeat this success as a composer, Charpentier remained active as a music critic and concert promoter as well as with charitable work. -The postcard to Rueff with a tear and pinchfolds not affecting the text; the postcard to Chatelin partly smudged.
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Cluytens, André, Belgian-French conductor (1905-1967).
Autograph music quotation signed. N. p., 1962.
130 x 90 mm. 1 p. 4 bars from the finale "Personne n'a un plus grand amour que de donner sa vie pour ceux qu’il aime" of Arthur Honegger's 1938 oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, dedicated to Eberhard Krämer. - Well preserved.
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Coates, John, tenor (1865-1941).
Autograph letter signed and cabinet photograph signed. London, 30. XII. 1901.
8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium. The photograph (100 x 140 mm) on slightly larger cardboard by atelier "Hana", London, with the studio's imprint. To the pianist and composer Leopold Röckel (1838-1923), brother of Wagner's close friend and correspondent August Röckel: "It is indeed kind of you to send me the book of Wagner's letters to your brother. I shall devour it eagerly. I appreciate very much such a kind thought, it was a very great pleasure indeed to me to meet you, I wish many more such opportunities would present themselves. I would be delighted if you would accept the enclosed photograph of myself as 'Lohengrin' with all good wishes for the new year [...]". - Inscribed on the photograph: "Yours sincerely [...]". - In the year 1901 Coates had sung the role of Claudio in Charles Villiers Stanford's opera "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Leeds Festival, and in the Gürzenich Concerts and Opera at Cologne and Leipzig. - On stationery with embossed address, slight foxing. The photograph in near-perfect condition.
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Coward, Henry, conductor (1849-1944).
Autograph letter signed. Sheffield, 3. II. 1932.
8vo. 1 page. With autograph envelope. To the musician Frederick Allan Wilshire (1868-1944) with thanks for appreciation, Coward would not wish to involve the local press with further articles due to his current popularity: "Accept my thanks for your letter and paper [...]. I dare not show them to the local press because so much is being said of my doings just now. It is very gratifying to see you are taking such great interest in the services for the people. Go on and prosper [...]". - Knighted in the later 1920s, Coward afterwards served as President of the "Tonic Sol-fa College" in London. - With embossed letter head, embossed letter stamp with postal advertising stamp, and collector's note in ink to envelope.
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Delannoy, Marcel, French composer (1898-1962).
Autograph letter signed. Saint-Germain-en-Laye, [1932-1933].
8vo. 2½ pp. on bifolium. Interesting letter to a journalist, concerning Delannoy's incidental music for François Poché's adaptation of Aristophanes' Peace (La Paix). Delannoy was frustrated because his role as composer had not been mentioned in the reviews of the successful production at Charles Dullin's Théâtre de l'Atelier in January 1932: "Je suis très étonné par les critiques faites sur la Paix, qui constatent le succès de l'œuvre et ne mentionnent même pas mon nom. Sans rien exagérer, il me semble que ma musique contribue dans une certaine part à ce succès". Therefore, he asks the recipient to write an article about his music: "Vous serait-il possible d'écrire un papier la-dessus : 'La musique, à l'Atelier'". Delannoy complains about music critics who "do not want to know anything but opera and comical opera" and suggests that the recipient remind his readers of similar compositions for dramatic works, such as Auric's 'Les oiseaux' and Milhaud's 'Le château des papes'. A list of the principal pieces of the composition follows. - Somewhat creased and duststained. With a rubbed spot at the address, effacing the name of the recipient.
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Delsarte, François, French singer and educator (1811-1871).
Autograph letter signed. N. p., "Vendredi soir".
8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. With autograph address and traces of seal. Interesting letter to the composer Napoléon Henri Reber, asking him to accompany Delsarte to an audition of some students of Émile-Joseph-Maurice Chevé who seem to have received lessons from Delsarte himself: "Je vais, demain soir, entendre les élèves de Chevé conformément à la promesse que je leur ai faite. Voulez-vous y venir avec moi ? Je voudrais pour beaucoup vous voir assister à cette audition car je suis persuadé que vous seriez charmé des résultats déjà obtenus. [...] J'espère que vous ne m'objecterez pas quel qu'empêchement car, je vous le répète, je tiens infiniment à vous rendre juge des efforts que nous pouvons attendre l'hiver prochain. Tout le monde, d'ailleurs, vous saura bon gré de cette dimarche". - The letter points to a connection between the two eminent singing teachers Chevé and Delsarte. Apparently, Chevé gave Delsarte the opportunity to test his experimental methods of singing and voice training with his own students. Unlike Chevé, who was co-founder of the Galin-Paris-Chevé-Method, Delsarte did not commit to writing any of his innovative teaching methods. It was through his American student, the actor Steele MacKaye, that Delsarte's methods were introduced to the U.S. Together with his student Genevieve Stebbins, MacKaye developed the extremely popular Delsarte system of expression. François Delsarte's most famous student was Sarah Bernhardt. - Traces of folds. The lower right margin bent. With tear from breaking the seal (address leaf).
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Koenig, Hermann, Komponist (1820-1870?).
Eigenh. Brief (Fragment, nur die Courtoisie) mit U. O. O. u. D.
Qu.-12mo. 1 S. (3 Zeilen). Auf Trägerpapier montiert. An einen R. Sterling: "I am Sir your obedient servant / Hermann Koenig". - Koenig spielte 1840 im Drury-Lane-Orchester, folgte in den frühen 1850er Jahren dem Dirigenten Louis Jullien nach Amerika und war in späteren Jahren hauptsächlich für den Instrumentenbau bekannt. - Mit Sammlernotiz auf dem Trägerpapier.
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Marmontel, Antoine, French pianist (1816-1898).
2 autograph letters signed. N. p. o. d.
12mo. Together 4½ pp. on bifolia. In an interesting letter to the composer Victor Massé, Marmontel congratulates his colleague at the Paris Conservatory on a cantata by his student Paul Puget: "Mes cordiales félicitations pour la belle Cantate de Puget. On reconnait dans l'ensemble et les détails de cette partition l'excellente direction du maître, et le brillant élève vous fait grand honneur. [...]". The cantata in question is very likely "Mazeppa", which won Puget the Prix de Rome in 1873. - The second letter to an unnamed administrator at the Conservatory concerns the organisation of upcoming auditions and the problem of "the sensitivity of the parents" during such events: "Voici sauf les rectifications qui vous paraitrons convenables et aussi l'intercalation [?] des trois morceaux chant, violon et chœur. Le classement des morceaux dans l'ordre me parait le plus avantageux. Les élèves de mon cher [...] débutèrent elles ? Dans ma lettre je lui laisse tout à fait le choix. Voyons à éviter les froissements d'amour propre, les susceptibilités des parents c'est là toujours l'écueil [?] des auditions, la plus part des élèves ayant la petite faiblesse de s'exagérer le mérite personnel [...]". - The letter concerning the audition with traces of former mounting and a tear affecting the text.
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Meilhac, Henri, French playwright and opera librettist (1830-1897).
Autograph letter signed. Paris, 22 July [1891, postmark].
Small 8vo. 2½ pp. on bifolium. With autograph envelope. Highly interesting letter to Philippe Gille, concerning the libretto for Léo Delibes' posthumous opera "Kassya", based on a novella by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, co-authored by Meilhac and Gille. Meilhac tells Gille that it would not be worth the trouble visiting him in Paris, as he is working "like a horse" and will probably lock himself up for "four days". Thus, he directly conveys "word for word the observations of Delibes", who had died a few months earlier. Most of Delibes' observations appear to ask for certain scenes to be set in verse, criticize the amount of prose, or suggest cuts, while in two instances, concrete changes are demanded: "Amener la chanson, peut-être lui faire répondre à lui quelque chose qui ramènerait un deuxième couplet" and "Supprimer je crois, 'Et quoi, pas un mot de tendresse'" (both act II, scene 4). - "Kassya" was unfinished at the time of Delibes' death on 16 January 1891. Apparently, Gille and Meilhac changed the libretto based on Delibes' last corrections before the opera was completed and orchestrated by Jules Massenet. "Kassya" premiered on 24 March 1893 at the Opéra-Comique, where it was respectfully received but ran for only twelve performances. - The recipient Philippe Gille (1831-1901) is today best known for co-authoring the librettos of Léo Delibes' most famous opera "Lakmé" together with Edmond Gondinet and Jules Massenet's "Manon" with Meilhac. - On stationery with printed letterhead. Somewhat stained and dusted.
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