Autograph letter signed "Humboldt".
Oblong 8vo. 1 p. on bifolium. With autograph address. In French.
€ 1,800.00
To a secretary or confidant of Denis-Luc Frayssinous (1765-1841), bishop of Hermopolis in partibus and French minister of public instruction, asking for an audience. The reason for Humboldt's unusual request was the search for the child of a Seigneur Guénot "whom we desire to see placed in Paris". The letterhead is capotioned "Bourges", followed by an illegible address and the information: "The child is thought to be in Bourges". Humboldt reminds the recipient of an earlier request to the bishop and asks for "a few moments' audience" with him: "Je ne sais varier les tours de mes supplications importunes et presque périodiques. Vous avez daigné me permettre avec une bienveillance extrême de Vous rapeller [!], Monsieur, au milieu de l'été la prière que j'avez osé adresser à S. E. le digne Évêque de Hermopolis relativement à l'enfant du Sr Guénot que nous voudrions voir placé à Paris. J'ose Vous supplier d'accorder quelques instants d'audience à cet excellent homme et d'agréer l'hommage de la considération et du dévouement affectueux avec lequel j'ai l'honneur d'être [...]".
No further links between Alexander von Humboldt and Denis-Luc Frayssinous are documented. Although the circumstances of the letter and the identity of Seigneur Guénot remain obscure, the text bears testimony to Humboldt's generosity and helpfulness, especially since he alludes to several earlier, "almost regular" supplications to the recipient. A few months after the letter was written, Humboldt had to return to Berlin on the personal orders of King Frederick William III of Prussia, having spent close to twenty years in Paris.
With traces of folds, two large tears, touching the date and text without loss, and one restored tear. One large brownstain from the faulty restoration of one of the tears and minimal foxing.
