ROUSSEAU JEAN-JACQUES: (1712-1778) Lot n° 1261

ROUSSEAU JEAN-JACQUES: (1712-1778) French Writer and Philosopher. An interesting autograph manuscript page by Rousseau, 4to, n.p., [Paris], n.d. (c.1745), in French. The manuscript page, in Rousseau's hand, is from his unpublished work relating to the history of women and laws which he prepared between 1745-51 for his benefactress Louise Marie Madeleine Dupin. Rousseau, in an unusual clean writing, states ` On assure qu´actuellement il y a en Provence deux couvents de religieuses chartreuses qui reçoivent de l´´evêque l´imposition des mains, avec les principaux attributs du diaconat – savoir poser l´étole, et chanter l´évangile. A éclaircir´ (“ It has been assured that currently there are in Provence two convents of Carthusian nuns who receive the imposition of hands from the Bishop, with the main attributes of the diaconate – knowing how to put on the stole, and sing the gospel. To clarify”) With right and bottom edges slightly trimmed and a small area of paper loss to the left Edge, not affecting the text. G Louise-Marie-Madeleine Fontaine (1706-1799) Madame Dupin. French saloniste, famed for her spirit and beauty who hosted a famous literary salon in Paris from 1733-82 and owned the Chateau de Chenonceau, known as the centre of the most famous French philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. Dupin employed Rousseau as her secretary and tutor of her son from 1745-51. At the time Rousseau wrote these pages, he was also working as secretary to his benefactress Louise Madame Dupin. The present text corresponds to Rousseau´s work about the history of women, written between 1745 and 1751 for Mrs Dupin, and which would never be published.