Lot 215
Scott, Sir Walter - Baron d'Haussez, Scott's French translator
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography
Auction: 31 August 2016 at 12:00 BST
Description
Autograph letter signed from Sir Walter Scott to his cousin Henry A. Scott, regarding the visit of Mareshal Bourmont and Baron d'Haussez to Abbotsford in 1830, Abbotsford, 2nd December [1830], c.23 x 19cm, written on one side of plain notepaper with address, broken seal and postmark displaying a straightline of Melrose, a couple of small tears, c.1" tear to right side with slight loss to text
Footnote
Note: Scott referring to his translator.
Scott refers to an 'A. Cowper R.A.S. [ie. FSA] and to one of his French translators: "Mareshal Bourmont and another damned fellow. Minister of Marine I think? who translated one of the Waverley novels." On 9th December 1830, Mareshal Bourmont' and Charles Le Mercier Longpré, Baron d'Haussez, descended upon Scott at Abbotsford, to what Scott referred to as his 'no small discomfort'. However, Scott subsequently sent a set of his Waverley novels to d'Haussez. When d'Haussez published an account of the visit in his travelogue, John Gibson Lockhart, Scott's son-in-law, called the account: 'vain imbecility... pitiable', remarking that d'Haussez had not taken Scott's ailing health into consideration.