ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. - PRÉVOST-PARADOL Lucien-Anatole. Discours de réception à l'Académie française. Original manuscript. [Paris, 1866]; in-4, 56 pp. on blue paper, contemporary binding in half dark green morocco with corners, gilt fillet on the nerves decorated with gilt fleurons, initials L.H. gilt on the tail. Original manuscript of the speech given by the man of letters Prévost-Paradol on the occasion of his reception in the French Parliament on 8 March 1866. This beautiful text pays tribute to his predecessor in chair n°37, the traveller Jean-Jacques Ampère, a friend of Tocqueville and Mérimée. Lucien Anatole Prévost-Paradol (Paris 1820 - Washington 1870) was one of the leading journalists of the liberal opposition under the Second Empire, and his election to the Académie caused a scandal. The manuscript, which is heavily crossed out, consists of 56 leaves in-4 written on one side only. It was a gift from the author to his half-brother, Ludovic Halévy. The two men's mother was an actress called Lucinde Prévost-Paradol. The letter 'à mon ami Ludovic Halévy' (to my friend Ludovic Halévy) nevertheless retains a façade of distance. Halévy was also admitted to the Académie long after his brother's death, in 1884. Ex-libris Ludovic Halévy. PHP stamp.