Victor FONTANIER (1796-1857), traveler, naturalist... Lot 34
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Victor FONTANIER (1796-1857), traveler, naturalist and diplomat, he carried out important missions in the East.
Autograph letter signed [probably to Jules Janin]. 4 pp. in-8 in fine handwriting. December 6, 1850.
Rare letter which reveals the other side of the election to the French Academy. He distills his advices of diplomat, evoking the decisive role of "Mr G." [Guizot], and the negotiations with Thiers and Victor Cousin. He also tells an anecdote that occurred when he asked for his election to the Academy of Inscriptions. He ends in a sarcastic way on the "Aleppo affair" and Ferdinand de Lesseps. "And how does your affair with Aleppo turn out? Now, instead of the academy, you are going to appear on the diplomatic list! I suspected that our young first prime, Lesseps, accompanied by his companion and pastreto magno helping, would have made some foolishness. So know that after a lot of heads cut off in Aleppo, the subject being given, it was necessary to take advantage of it and to pose. A bit like Pérette, Mr. Lesseps turned first to Mme Soleille to make her the head of a patroness column and, the thing arranged, she operated vigorously against the archbishopric by unfolding the flag of the ministry. She obtained a blessing and a mandement. Didn't that animal Callimaki get angry and went to ask the minister for a reason for his intervention [] ".
Provenance: Andrieux sale, Dec. 22, 1949.
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