VOLTAIRE | autograph letter signed, in English, to George Keate, c.1762

VOLTAIRE, FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DIT

AUTOGRAPH LETTER IN ENGLISH, SIGNED ("V"), TO GEORGE KEATE, ABOUT A PLAY BEING PERFORMED AT HIS PRIVATE THEATRE AT FERNEY,

informing him that they are preoccupied with preparations for a tragedy, in which he will take the part of a ghost, and expressing his regret at the departure of Keate's friend ("...Yr friend is just ready to set out for england. I regret his company, and i will regrett you all my life. we are in the hurry of acting as tragedy. I play the ghost I shall act very well for I am but a shadow Yr for ever V..."), 1 page, 4to (c.24.5 x 18.5cm), integral address leaf ("Monsieur Kead"), Ferney (Geneva), 13 October [c.1762]

Letters by Voltaire in English are rare.  Voltaire would sometimes take part in the plays given at his private theatre at the Chateau de Ferney, near Geneva.  The role of the ghost that Voltaire is playing may be that of Ninus, the murdered husband of Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, in his play Sémiramis (1748), later the model for Rossini's opera (1823).

LITERATURE:

Besterman D10761

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