ROUSSEAU JEAN JACQUES Autograph Letter Signed JJRousseau to

Sale 2333 - Lot 288

Price Realized: $ 9,375

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

"WE ARE GIVING . . . THE FIRST AND PROBABLY ONLY SHOWING OF NARCISSUS" ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES. Autograph Letter Signed, "JJRousseau," to Mr. Mussard, in French, informing him that Rousseau's play, Narcissus, was to be performed tomorrow and urging him not to tell anyone. 1 page, 8vo, with integral address leaf addressed in his hand; vertical and horizontal closed tears across entire sheet (without loss), backed, inlaid, small hole at center vertical fold from seal, faint scattered staining. should be examined. "Sunday morning" [17 December 1752]

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"I make good my promise, Sir, in notifying you that we are giving tomorrow, Monday, the first and probably only showing of Narcissus. If you definitely want to see it, I advise you to come here tomorrow, and if you are as indifferent to its fate as I am, I advise you not to come.
"In any event, I urge you to keep it secret. Messrs. de Gauffecourt, d'Holbach, Grimm, you, and La Noue are alone in my confidence; the others only have suspicions that should not be confirmed."
Published in Correspondance complète de Rousseau, ed. Leigh, 1965-90, vol. 2.
His play, Narcissus: or The Self-Admired, was only performed twice in his lifetime: in Paris, on December 18, 1752, and again on the 20th.