Anecdota

Rare texts and images from early modern France

Category Archives: Correspondence

Pierre-Daniel Huet in New York

This year should not go by without a brief salute to Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721), the Norman polymath who was one of the most brilliant and … Continue reading

December 31, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Anne Le Fèvre Dacier in America

The summer of 1720 in France brought not only an outbreak of bubonic plague in Marseille and the economically disastrous bursting of John Law’s Mississippi … Continue reading

August 11, 2020 · 1 Comment

The autograph and its double

As Voltaire once remarked (or was it Winston Churchill?), forgery surely is the world’s second-oldest profession. This universal truth is confirmed by the history of … Continue reading

December 30, 2019 · 2 Comments

Rubens and the King of France

This summer, the Prado Museum in Madrid hosted the exhibition Tesoros de la Hispanic Society of America: Visiones del mundo hispánico. Among the 200 objects … Continue reading

October 1, 2017 · 1 Comment

Saving Madame de Graffigny

2016 saw the successful completion of a 40-year project: the publication of the Correspondance of Françoise de Graffigny (1695-1758), famous in her time – and … Continue reading

March 8, 2017 · Leave a Comment

A letter from Racine to Boileau

Many American libraries along the eastern seaboard, from Maine to Washington D.C. and beyond, preserve outstanding autograph collections whose riches remain to be fully explored. … Continue reading

February 20, 2017 · Leave a Comment