207 - FEUILLET de CONCHES (Baron, Félix Sébastien), 1798–1887. Letter from the author.

FEUILLET de CONCHES (Baron, Félix Sébastien), 1798–1887. Letter from the author. “Feuillet de Conches,” 3 pp., in-8, undated, to Charles-Louis Livet (1828–1897). An interesting letter concerning the controversy over the authenticity of Marie Antoinette’s letters. Having barely recovered from a “severe bout of cholera,” Feuillet de Conches thanks Livet for his article and mentions his dispute with the German historian Heinrich von Sybel, who had cast doubt on the authenticity of several documents published in his edition of Marie-Antoinette’s correspondence. He announces his intention to respond to Sybel in the fourth volume and downplays the significance of Sybel’s criticisms, which, in his view, concern only a few letters from the queen to her sister Marie-Christine, drawn from private collections rather than public archives: “German obstinacy is not always in good faith”. Above all, he laments that the controversy might cast suspicion on his entire work. “A historian less preoccupied, less hateful, and less revolutionary than Sybel would have been more open-minded and would have remained silent.” Enclosed are three letters from the same author to Samuel Ustazade Silvestre de Sacy (1801–1879, son of the orientalist Antoine-Isaac, journalist for the *Journal des débats*, critic, and librarian; who was elected to the Académie Française in 1854 and became its permanent secretary in 1878): - May 5, 1876, 1 p., in-12; he asks for “just a small seat” to attend Jean-Baptiste Dumas’s reception at the Académie Française. - Undated, 2 pp., in-8; he expresses gratitude for the article he read on his way back from Étretat and regrets not having seen him at home; “''[…] My autographs did tremble a little; but I told them: ‘Be quiet—you’ve been treated as you deserve, and you should rejoice when your master rejoices […]’.” He is sending him the third volume of his collection of letters by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; he plans to publish five volumes in total. Arm. S. de Sacy seal. - Undated, 2 pp., in-8; he congratulates him on his “promotion, which is awaited with ever-increasing impatience. “It is justice done to your character and a well-deserved honor for the letters.” He has just recovered from a bout of cholera and has “escaped the clutches of the monster to applaud [his] appointment.” Seal: Arm. S. de Sacy.