A letter from Frederick the Great to Jacques E. Duhan de Jandun
Sepia ink on paper. "Mon cher Duhan, Je Suis pillé Totallement, Je vous prie de M´acheter et faire rellier boilo, in octavo la belle edition avec les Notes, (...) Les Tusculanes de Ciceron (...) Voltaire (...) Horace (...) Gresset (...) Rousseau (...) Les deux dernieres campagnes de Turenne (...) Les lettres persannes (...) Faite Moy le plaisir Mon cher De me trouver ces livres et de me Les envoyer promptement, je Crois que Vous trouverez cet assortiment dans la biblioteque de mon cher Jourdan. adieu Mon Amy. J´en ai rechapé belle Le 30eme, ce que me procure le plaisir de Vous assurer ancore une fois de la tendre amityé et de La reconoissance que j´ai pour Vous. Federic". Crowned coat-of-arms watermark. Small tears to the margins, yellowed. H 20, W 17 cm. In a blue linen case.
Dated "le 2 Oct 1745".
In this letter, the King tells his tutor Duhan about the losses and damage to his travel library which occured during the plundering of his encampment during the battle of Soor in Bohemia. He asks Duhan to replace the books as soon as possible, mentioning that most could be found in the library of his private secretary Charles Etienne Jordan, who had recently died. Despite the loss of his books and the death of his beloved secretary, Frederick still won the battle, as he mentions in the final paragraph.
Literature
Printed, transcribed in its entirety and translated in: Kaiser, Die Bücher des Königs, Berlin 2012, p. 24 f. and 224.